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A HISTORY OF CHINA 



A HISTORY OF CHINA 



BEING THE HISTOEICAL CHAPTERS FROM 
"THE MIDDLE KINGDOM" 



•BY THE LATE 

s. well/williams, ll.d. 

PROFESSOR OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN TALE COLLEGE 



WITH A CONCLUDING CHAPTER NARRATING RECENT EVENTS 

BY 

FREDERICK WELLS WILLIAMS 

INSTRUCTOR IN ORIENTAL HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY 






NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1897 



Copyright, 1SS2 and 1897, 
By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 






\D^ 



PREFACE. 



The need for a good history of China remains as unsatisfied 
to-day as when " The Middle Kingdom " was first written half 
a century ago. This is intended neither as a reflection upon 
the times in which we live, nor as a reproach to the small 
band of learned men that deserve the name of Sinologues ; 
for an age is competent to determine its own interests, and if 
educated Europe cares little for the Far East it but continues 
in the traditions of the past ; nor have scholars yet been able 
to investigate the unexplored mass of Chinese printed books 
which must supply authorities for the story of China's long 
career. The statement that the history of this nation has yet 
to be written is only made here in explanation of the reap- 
pearance in this volume of an inadequate sketch originally 
designed to form part of a comprehensive study of the country 
and its inhabitants. In view of an awakening interest in the 
affairs of Asia manifest throughout Europe and the United 
States, it has seemed advisable to provide — at least temporar- 
ily — for the wants of many readers by re-issuing the historical 
chapters of " The Middle Kingdom," adding thereto a sum- 
mary of the more important occurrences that have marked the 
dozen years of Chinese history since that work was last re- 
vised. No attempt has been made to amend the portion 
already in type, since it is hoped that the lessened cost of the 
volume secured by using the old plates would compensate for 
any advantages to be expected from its revision within the 
limited time at the editor's command. Such accounts of 
political and social China as have appeared in our language 
within the past half-century have for the most part suffered 



VI PREFACE. 

from the bias, national, religions or otherwise, of their authors. 
While absolute impartiality is not a quality to be found here 
or elsewhere among human annalists, a true conception of east- 
ern Asiatic politics is only to be obtained by forsaking so far 
as possible our prejudices of race and creed and approaching 
them with unselfish and sympathetic interest. An endeavor is 
made in these pages to comprehend the stand-point of the 
Chinese instead of either condemning or excusing their acts. 

Events so recent as those detailed in the last chapter of this 
book must needs be arranged in the form of a rather colorless 
chronicle, the perspective being too small as yet to develop 
them into a philosophic history. In her present distress and 
indecision, it is still more difficult to discuss the future than 
the present of the Chinese Empire. She has now had nearly 
three generations of intercourse and experience with Western 
nations, and yet with few exceptions her statesmen to-day 
exhibit the same hopeless incapacity in dealing with questions 
involving the fate of the nation that marked the advisers of 
Taukwang and Hienfung. Apparently their lessons at the 
hands of hardier peoples have taught them nothing ; they show 
since their discomfiture by Japan the same abject fear that 
has in times past driven or drifted them into spasms of abase- 
ment, which to the merely superficial observer seem closely 
bordering upon imbecility. The dread inspired by defeat is 
not an unaccustomed phenomenon to students of Asiatic na- 
tions. In the simple structure of an oriental despotism a 
disastrous campaign means, usually, the supplanting of the 
reigning family by a new house, native or foreign. This 
event has more than once during this century been confidently 
awaited in the East as the normal outcome of Chinese reverses. 
At each catastrophe the mnndarinate — which is but a ruling 
clique — has, as it were, bent its head for the coup de grace, 
involving, of course, the extinction of the dynasty, only to 
arise to renewed life and a lengthened lease of corrupt control. 

In a very real sense the government and the nation of China 
are two different things. The former has just escaped, thanks 
in part to European interference, from peril of its life ; the 
latter feels no sense of escape whatever, only a renewal of the 



PREFACE. Vll 

unjust rule under which it has repined since the present dy- 
nasty became effete. In some degree we may account, there- 
fore, for the prostration of the governing minority in the 
Empire, its weakness and ineptness in war and in peace ; with 
characteristic oriental stoicism it has not thought seriously of 
guaranteeing the future, being still confident of its inevitable 
doom. Meanwhile, the nation itself, conscious of new forces 
on every side, has shown by rebellions cropping out every- 
where, by the machinations of secret societies and by the more 
open and laudable efforts of a few individuals, its discontent 
with the old regime and its desire to participate in the profits 
of industrial life with modern appliances and under modern 
conditions. This is the New China, that the Old ; the one 
has insisted upon the adoption of railroads and telegraphs, the 
circulation of newspapers, and the introduction of Western 
science into the curriculum of official education ; the other lias 
excited the hatred of the ignorant people against foreigners 
and thwarted or ridiculed every attempt to re-establish the 
Empire by the adoption of European institutions. 

Whether the one party or the other will eventually succeed 
in obtaining permanent control is now rendered doubly un- 
certain by the active and apparently unresisted interference of 
Russia in Chinese affairs. While this new political factor, 
and the still newer phenomenon of militant Japan, introduce 
elements into the problem of the Far East as yet too undefined 
to discuss, it may be observed in conclusion that the proposed 
network of railroads in Manchuria to be built, equipped and 
guarded by Russian mone}^ and troops, shows who is the chief 
gainer by the late war. This is what British diplomatists 
have uniformly expected as a result of a contest which in- 
volved China with any other power, and for this reason they 
tried to prevent the war. Having failed to do so they not 
unnaturally declined to join their continental rival and humil- 
iate Japan by interfering in the treaty which gave her the 
rewards of victory. The hopes of political prophets as to the 
military value of China's millions being for the present in 
abeyance, it is still possible for Great Britain — the represen- 
tative of what is best in Christian civilization in Asia — to 



Vlll PREFACE. 

count upon an ally that is imbued with a dislike as intense as 
her own for Russia, and that is willing to join her in rescu- 
ing from the Adversary the country which each in turn has 
invaded and vanquished. 

A word ought to be said as to the spelling of proper names 
in this volume. Had a thorough revision been practicable the 
editor might have conformed to the Wade system, not because 
of its intrinsic superiority to others, but because of its general 
use in a matter where a clear majority ought to be law. While 
endeavoring to preserve the same forms throughout the vol- 
ume, he has in the final chapter yielded to common usage in 
some familiar names like Foochow, Kelung, etc., and has for 
the sake of simplicity abandoned the accent employed to mark 
the Italian i. In Korean names any scientific consistency in 
spelling is excessively difficult to attain, since with the no- 
menclature of three languages to choose from foreign writers 
naturally vary widely in their selections. The place called in 
the text Ping yang, for example, is written PHng jang (or 
yang) in Chinese, Phyong yang in Korean, and Hei jo in 
Japanese, and so with every spot in that unblest and stricken 
peninsula. In general the consonants have their English 
values here while the vowels are sounded approximately as in 
Italian or Spanish, with the exception of a which corresponds 
with e in the Wade system and represents the short u in such 
words nsfun, tun, etc. 

F. W. W. 

New Haven, Conn., February, 1897. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Chronology and Early History, 1-53 

General doubts and ignorance concerning the subject, 2 ; The 
mythological period, 3 ; Chinese notions of cosmogony, 4 ; The 
god Pwanku, 5 ; Chu Hi's cosmogony, 7 ; The legendary pe- 
riod, Fuh-hi, 9 ; The eight monarchs, 11 ; Hwangti and the 
sexagenary cycle, 12 ; The deluge of Yao, 13 ; The historical 
period : The Hia dynasty, 14 ; Yu the Great, his inscription 
on the rocks of Kau-lau shan, 15 ; Records of the Hia, 18 ; 
The Shang dynasty, 20 ; Chau-sin, 22 ; Rise of the house of 
Chau, 23 ; Credibility of these early annals, 25 ; The Tsin dy- 
nasties, Tsin Chi Hwangti, 26 ; The dynasty of Han, 28 
From the Han to the Sui, 31 ; The great Tang dynasty, 33 
Taitsung and the Empress Wu, 35 ; The Five Dynasties. 38 
The Sung dynasty, 39 ; The Mongol conquest, Kublai Khan 
41 ; The Mings, 43 ; The Manchus, or Tsing dynasty, 45 
Kanghi, 46 ; Yungching and Kienlung, 47 ; Kiaking and 
Taukwang, 49 ; Tables of the monarchs and dynasties, 52. 



CHAPTER II. 

Foreign Intercourse with China, 54-110 

Limited conception of the Chinese as to embassies, 54 ; Earliest 
mention of China or Cathay, 56 ; Acquaintance between Rome 
and Seres, or Sinse, 57 ; Knowledge of China under the Greek 
Empire, 60 ; Narratives of Buddhist pilgrims, 61 ; Notices of 
Arab travellers, 62 ; Piano Carpini's mission from the Pope to , \ 
Kuyuk Khan, 63 ; Rubruquis sent by Louis XI. to Mangu 
Khan, 66 ; Travels of Marco Polo and King Hayton of Arme- 
nia, 68 ; Of the Moor, Ibn Batuta. 69 ; Of Friar Odoric, 70 ; 
Of Benedict Goes, 72 ; Of Ibn Wahab, 73 ; The Manchus 



CONTENTS. 

confine foreign trade to Canton, 74 ; Character of early Portu- 
guese traders, 75 ; Their settlement at Macao and embassies 
to Peking, 76; Relations of Spain with China, 79 ; The Dutch 

, come to China, 81 ; They occupy Formosa, 82 ; Koxinga ex- 
pels them from the island, 85 ; Van Hoorn's embassy to Pe- 
king, 86 ; Van Braam's mission to Kienlung, 87 ; France and 
China, 88 ; Russian embassies to the court at Peking, b9 ; In- 
tercourse of the English with China, 91 ; Attempts of the 
East India Company to establish trade, 95 ; The Co-hong, 
95 ; Treatment of Mr. Flint, 96 ; Anomalous position of for- 
eigners in China during the eighteenth century, 98 ; Chinese 
action in sundry cases of homicide among foreigners, 99 ; 

/Lord Macartney's embassy to Peking, 102; Attitude of the 

| Chinese regarding Macao, 104; Regarding English and Amer- 
ican " sqnabbles," 105 ; Embassy of Lord Amherst, 106 ; Close/ 

I of the East India Company monopoly, 107; American trad< 
•with China, 108 ; Chinese terms for foreigners, 109. 



CHAPTER III. 

Origin of the First War with England, . . . 111-161 

Features of the war with England, 111 ; Lord Xapier appointed 
superintendent of British trade, 112 ; He goes to Canton, 115 ; 
His contest with the governor, 116 ; Chinese notions of su- 
premacy, 120 ; Lord Xapier retires from Canton, his sudden 
death, 122 ; Petition of the British merchants to the king, 
124 ; Trade continued, as before, 126 ; Sir B. G Robinson the 
superintendent at Lintin, 127 ; Is succeeded by Captain El- 
liot, 129 ; Hii Xai-tsi proposes to legalize the opium trade, 
130 : Countermemorials to the Emperor. 131 : Discussion of 
the matter among foreigners, 135 ; Canton officers enforce the 
prohibitory laws, 138 ; Elliot ordered to drive the opium ships 
from Lintin, 139 ; Arrival of Admiral Sir F. Maitland, 140 ; 
Smuggling increases, 141; A mob before the factories. 143; 
Captain Elliot's papers and actions regarding the opium traf- 
fic 144 ; Commissioner Lin sent to Canton. 145 ; He demands 
a surrender of opium held by foreigners. 147 ; Imprisons them 
in the factories, 148 ; The opium given up and destroyed, 
150: Homicide of Lin Wei-hi at Hongkong, 153; Motives 
and position of Governor Lin, 156 ; The war an opium war, 
158 ; Debate in Parliament upon the question, 160. 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

The Opium War, 162-222 

Arrival of the British fleet and commencement of hostilities, 162 ; 
Fall of Tinghai, 163 ; Lin recalled to Peking, 164; Kishen 
sent to Canton, negotiates a treaty with Captain Elliot at the 
Bogue, 165 ; The negotiations fail, 167 ; Capture of the Can- 
ton River defences, 169 ; The city ransomed, 171 ; Amoy and 
Tinghai taken, 173 ; Fall of Chinhai and Ningpo, 175 ; The 
Emperor determines to resist, 177 ; Attempt to recapture 
Ningpo, 179 ; The British reduce the neighboring towns, 
181 ; The fleet enters the Yangtsz', capture of Wusung, 183 ; 
Shanghai taken, 184 ; Proclamations issued by both parties 
respecting the war, 185 ; Storming of Chinkiang, 188 ; Terri- 
ble carnage among its Manchu inhabitants, 190 ; Singular 
contrast at Idling, 192 ; Kiying communicates with Sir H. 
Pottinger, 194 ; The envoy and commissioners meet, 195 ; 
A treaty drawn up, 197 ; Conversation on the opium ques- 
tion, 198 ; The Treaty of Nanking signed, 201 ; Massacre of 
shipwrecked crews on Formosa, 202 ; Losses and rewards on 
both sides after the war, 204 : Settlement of a tariff and 
commercial relations, 205; Deaths of Howqua and John R. 
Morrison, 207 ; A supplementary treaty signed, 209 ; Re- 
newal of opium vexations, 210 ; Treaties arranged with other 
foreign powers, 213 ; The ambassador and letter from the 
United States to China, 214 ; Caleb Cushing negotiates a 
treaty with Kiying, 215; Homicide by an American at Can- 
ton, and subsequent correspondence, 216 ; A French treaty 
concluded by M. de Lagrene at Whampoa, 219 ; Position of 
England and China after the war, 220. 



CHAPTER V. 
The Tai-ping Rebellion, 223-272 

Attitude of the ruling classes in China toward foreigners, 223 ; 
Governor Sir J. Davis and Commissioner Kiying, 225 ; Kill- 
ing of six Englishmen at Canton, 226; Chinese notions of 
treaties, ibid.; Causes of the Tai-ping Rebellion, 229 ; Life 
of Hung Siutsuen, its leader, 230 ; His wonderful vision, 
231 ; He interprets it by Christian ideas, 233 ; Early phases 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of the movement, 235 ; Commencement of the insurrection, 
238 ; Political and religious tenets of the rebels, 240 ; Rapid 
advance to the Yangtsz' and occupation of Nanking, 244 ; The 
expedition against Peking, 245 ; Its failure, 247 ; Dissensions 
among the rebel wangs, or leaders, 250 ; Rebel sortie from 
Nanking, 253 ; Assistance of foreigners sought by imperial- 
ists, 255 ; Achievements of the Chung Wang, 256 ; Colonel 
Gordon assumes control of the " Ever- Victorious force," 257 ; 
His successful campaigns, 259 ; Environment of Suchau, 
261 ; The city surrenders, 262 ; Execution of its wangs by 
Governor Li, 263 ; Gordon's responsibility in the matter, 264 ; 
Further operations against the insurgents, 265 ; The Ever- 
Victorious force disbanded, 266 ; Fall of Nanking and dis- 
persion of the rebels, 269 ; Subsequent efforts of the Shi and 
Kan wangs, 270 ; Disastrous character of the rebellion, 271. 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Second Anglo-Chinese War, 273-337 

Relations between the Cantonese and foreigners after the first war, 
274 ; Collecting of custom duties at Shanghai entrusted to 
foreigners, 275 ; Common measures of defence against the 
rebels there, 277; The insurrection in Kwangtung, 278; 
Frightful destruction of life, 281 ; Governor Yeh's policy of 
seclusion, 281 ; Smuggling lorchas at Hongkong and Macao, 
282 ; The lorcha Arrow affair, 283 ; The initial acts of the 
war, 286 ; Collision with Americans at the Barrier forts, 287 ; 
View of the war in England, 289 ; Arrival of Lord Elgin and 
Baron Gros in China, 291 ; Bombardment and capture of 
Canton, ibid. ; Problem of governing the city, 294 ; The allies 
repair to the Pei-ho, 297 ; Capture of the Taku forts, 299 ; 
Negotiations with Kweiliang and Hwashana at Tientsin, 300 ; 
Unexpected appearance of Kiying, 301 ; Difficulties of Lord 
Elgin's position at Tientsin, 302 ; The treaties signed and 
ratified, 304 ; Revision of the tariff undertaken at Shanghai, 
305 ; Effect of treaty stipulations and foreign trade on the 
people of China, 306 ; Lord Elgin visits the Tai-ping rebe's at 
Hankow, 307 ; Sentiment of officials and people in China re- 
garding foreigners, 308; Coolie trade outrages, 311; The 
foreign ministers repair to Taku, 312 ; Repulse at the Taku 
forts, 314 ; The American minister conducted to Peking, 316 ; 
Discussion concerning the formalities of an audience, 317 ; 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

PAGE 

He retires and ratifies the treaty at Pehtang, 318 ; Lord 
Elgin and Baron Gros sent back to China, 819 ; War resumed, 
the allies at Pehtang, 321 ; Capture of villages about Taku, 
322 ; Fall of the Taku forts, 324 ; Lord Elgin declines to re- 
main at Tientsin, 325 ; Interpreters Wade and Parkes sent to 
Tungchau, 326 ; Capture of Parkes and Loch, 328 ; Skirmish 
of Pali-kiau, 830; Pillage of Yuen-ming Yuen, 331 ; Its de- 
struction upon the return of the prisoners, 332 ; Entry into 
Peking and signing of the treaties, 334 ; Permanent settlement 
of foreign embassies at the capital, 336. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Administration of the Empresses, .... 338-389 

•Palace conspiracy upon the death of Hienfung, 238 ; The regency 
established at Peking, 339 ; The Lay-Osborne flotilla, 341 ; 
Collapse of the scheme and dismissal of Lay, 343 ; The Bur- 
lingame mission to foreign countries, 344 ; Its treaty with the 
United States, 346 ; Outbreak at Tientsin, 348 ; Investigation 
into the riot, 351; Bitter feeling among foreigners, 353; 
Memorandum from the Tsung 11 Yamun on the missionary 
question, 355 ; Conclusion of the Kansuh insurrection, 357 ; 
Marriage of the Emperor Tungchi, 358 ; The foreign minis- 
ters demand an audience, 360 ; Reception of the ambassadors 
by Tungchi, 362 ; Stopping of the coolie trade, 363 ; Japanese 
descent upon Formosa, 365 ; English expedition to Yunnan, 
367 ; Second mission, murder of Margary, 369 ; The Grosve- 
nor mission of inquiry, 371 ; The Chifu Convention between 
Li Hung-chang and Sir T. Wade, 373 ; Death of Tungchi and 
accession of Kwangsti, 375 *, The rebellion of Yakub Beg in 
Turkestan, 375 ; He overthrows the Dungani Confederation, 
378 ; His forces conquered by Tso Tsung-tang, 379 ; Negotia- 
tions as to the cession of Kuldja, 380 ; The great famine of 
1878, 882 ; Efforts of foreigners for its relief, 384 ; Chinese 
boys sent to America for education, 387 ; Grounds of hope for 
the future of China, 389. 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Narrative of Recent Events, ...... 390^462 

Three important occurrences mark the close of the centur} 7 , 390 ; 
Beginning of French interference in Indo China, 391 ; Chi- 
nese suzerainty over Annam, 392 ; The French raid on Tong- 
king. 395 ; Death of Riviere at Hanoi, 396 ; The conquest of 
Tongking, 397 ; The Fournier convention and renewal of hos- 
tilities, 399 ; A War-no- war, 401 ; The Franco Chinese treaty 
of 188", 403 ; A spasm of progress in China, 405 ; Agreements 
as to Hongkong and Macao, 406 ; The English in Burma and 
Port Hamilton, 409 ; Kwangsti's accession and retirement of 
the Dowager-Empress Hi, 411; Audiencejjjeg-otiations, 413; 
Western science and railroads, 415 ; The Yellow River flood, 
417 ; Reactionary tendencies, 420 ; Outrages committed on 
foreigners, 421 ; Riots at Wuhu, 422 ; At Wusueh, Icbangand 
Kirin, 425 ; At Sungpu, Chingtu and elsewhere, 426 ; The 
massacre at Hwashan, 429 ; Causes of Anti-foreign fanati- 
cism, 430 ; Necessity of punishment rather than indemnity, 
435 ; The rivalry of China and Japan over Korea, 437 ; Polit- 
ical demoralization of Korea, 441 ; The KowsMng affair, 443 ; 
The Battle of Ping yang, 444 ; The Battle of Hai yang, 447; 
The fall of Port Arthur, 451 ; The Japanese in Manchuria, 
454 ; The capture of Wei hai wei, 456 ; The treaty of Shimo- 
noseki, 401. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHRONOLOGY AND EARLY HISTORY. 

The history of the Chinese people has excited less attention 
among western scholars than it deserves, though in some re- 
spects no nation offers more claims to have its chronicles care- 
fully and fairly examined. The belief is generally entertained 
that their pretensions to antiquity are extravagant and ridicu- 
lous, and incompatible with the Mosaic chronology ; that they 
not only make the world to have existed myriads of years, but 
reckon the succession of their monarchs far beyond the creation, 
and ascribe to them a longevity that carries its own confutation on 
its face. In consequence of this opinion, some have denied the 
credibility of native historians altogether, and the whole subject 
of the settlement and early progress of this ancient race has 
been considered beyond the reach, and almost unworthy the 
attempt, of sober investigation. This erroneous and hasty con- 
clusion is gradually giving way to a careful inquiry into those 
histories which show that the early records of the sons of Han 
contain much which is worthy of credence, and much more that 
is highly probable. A wide field is here opened for the re- 
searches of a Gibbon or a Niebuhr ; for as long as we are desti- 
tute of a good history of China and its connections with other 
Asiatic nations, we shall not only be unable to form a correct 
opinion respecting the people, but shall lack many important 
data for a full illustration of the early history of the human 
race. It is easy to laud the early records of the Chinese to the 
skies, as French writers have done ; and it is quite as easy to 
cry them down as worthless — manufactured in after-ages to 
please the variety of their writers. The reputation both people 
and records have received is owing, in some measure, to this 



2 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

undue laudation and depreciation, as well as to the intrinsic 
merits and defects of their histories. These, however, still 
mostly remain in their originals, and will require the united 
labors of many scholars to be fully brought to light and made 
a part of the world's library. 

The enormous difficulties arising from the extent and tedious 
minuteness of native historians, coupled with the scarcity of 
translators competent or willing to undertake the labor of even 
such a resume of these works as will satisfy rational curiosity, 
are now being slowly overcome, both by Chinese and foreign 
students. These researches, it is to be earnestly hoped, will be 
rewarded by promoting a juster estimate in the minds of both 
classes of their relative positions among the nations of the 
earth. 

China, like other countries, has her mythological history, and 
it should be separated from the more recent and received, as 
her own historians regard it, as the fabrication of subsequent 
times. She also has her ancient history, whose earliest dates 
and events blend confusedly with the mythological, but gradu- 
ally grow more credible and distinct as they come down the 
stream of time to the beginning of modern history. The early 
accounts of every nation whose founding was anterior to the 
practice of making and preserving authentic records must 
necessarily be obscure and doubtful. What is applicable to the 
Chinese has been true of other ancient people : " national 
vanity and a love of the marvellous have influenced them all, 
and furnished materials for many tales, as soon as the spirit of 
investigation has supplanted that appetite for wonders which 
marks the infancy of nations as well as of individuals." The 
ignorance of the " art preservative of all arts " will greatly ex- 
plain the subsequent record of the wonderful, without suppos- 
ing that the infancy of nations partook of the same traits of 
weakness and credulity as that of individuals. There is neither 
space nor time in this work to give the details concerning the 
history and succession of dynasties that have swayed the Middle 
Kingdom, for to one not specially engaged in their examina- 
tion their recital is proverbially dry ; the array of uncouth 
names destitute of lasting interest, and the absence of the charm 



THE STUDY OF EAELY CHINESE HISTORY. 3 

of association with western nations render them uninviting to 
the general reader. Some account of the leading events and 
changes is all that is necessary to explain what has been else- 
where incidentally referred to. 1 

Chinese historians have endeavored to explain the creation 
and origin of the world around them ; but, ignorant of the 
sublime fact that there is one Creator who upholds his works 
by the word of his power, they have invented various modes to 
account for it, and wearied themselves in theorizing and disput- 
ing with each other. One of them, Yangtsz', remarks, in view 
of these conflicting suppositions : " Who knows the affairs of 
remote antiquity, since no authentic records have come down to 
us ? He who examines these stories will find it difficult to be- 
lieve them, and careful scrutiny will convince him that they are 
without foundation. In the primeval ages no historical records 
were kept. "Why then, since the ancient books that described 
those times were burnt by Tsin, should we misrepresent those 
remote ages, and satisfy ourselves with vague fables ? How- 
ever, as everything except heaven and earth must have a cause, 
it is clear that they have always existed, and that cause pro- 
duced all sorts of men and beings, and endowed them with 
their various qualities. But it must have been man who in the 
beginning produced all things on earth, and who may therefore 
be viewed as the lord, and from whom rulers derive their 
dignities." 

This extract is not a bad example of Chinese writers and 
historians ; a mixture of sense and nonsense, partially laying 
the foundation of a just argument, and ending with a tre- 
mendous non-sequitur, apparently satisfactory to themselves, 
but showing pretty conclusively how little pains they take to 
gather facts and discuss their bearings. Some of these writers 
imagine that the world owes its existence to the retroactive 
agency of the dual powers yin and yang, which first formed 
the outline of the universe, and were themselves influenced by 

1 Among the works which, will repay perusal on this topic are Mailla's His- 
tmre de la Chine and Pauthier's C7iine, in French, and Du Halde's History. 
translated into English ; besides the briefer compilations of Murray, Grosier, 
Gutzlaff, Davis, and more recently of Boulger and Bichthofen, Band I. 



4 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their own creations. One of the most sensible of their authors 

says: 

Heaven was formless, an utter chaos; the whole mass was nothing but 
confusion. Order was first produced in the pure ether, and out of it the 
universe came forth ; the universe produced air, and air the milky- way. When 
the pure male principle yang had been diluted, it formed the heavens ; the 
heavy and thick parts coagulated, and formed the earth. The refined par- 
ticles united very soon, but the union of the thick and heavy went on slowly ; 
therefore the heavens came into existence first, and the earth afterward. 
From the subtle essence of heaven and earth, the dual principles yin and yang 
were formed ; from their joint operation came the four seasons, and these 
putting forth their energies gave birth to all the products of the earth. The 
warm effluence of the yang being condensed, produced fire ; and the finest 
parts of fire formed the sun. The cold exhalations of the yin being likewise 
condensed, produced water ; and the finest parts of the watery substance formed 
the moon. By the seminal influence of the sun and moon, came the stars. 
Thus heaven was adorned with the sun, moon, and stars ; the earth also re- 
ceived rain, rivers, and dust. ' 

But this acute explanation, like the notions of Hesiod among 
the Greeks, was too subtle for the common people ; they also 
wanted to personify and deify these powers and operations, but 
lacking the imaginative genius and fine taste of the Greeks, 
their divine personages are outrageous and their ideal beings 
shapeless monsters. No creator is known or imagined who, 
like Brahm, Jives in space, ineffable, formless ; but the first 
being, Pwanku, had the herculean task to mould the chaos 
which produced him and chisel out the earth that was to con- 
tain him. One legend is that " the dual powers were fixed 
when the primeval chaos separated. Chaos is bubbling turbid 
water, which enclosed and mingled with the dual powers, like 
a chick in ovo, but when their offspring Pwanku appeared their 
distinctiveness and operations were apparent. Pwan means a 
' basin,' referring to the shell of the egg ; ku means ' solid,' ' to 
secure,' intending to show how the first man Pwanku was 
hatched from the chaos by the dual powers, and then settled 
and exhibited the arrangement of the causes which produced 
him." 

The Rationalists have penetrated furthest into the Daedalian 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. III. , p. 55. 



CHINESE COSMOGONY. 



mystery of this cosmogony, 1 and they go on to show what 
Pwanku did and how he did it. They picture him holding a 
chisel and mallet in his hands, splitting and fashioning vast 




Pwanku Chiselling Out the Universe. 



masses of granite floating confusedly in space. Behind the 
openings his powerful hand has made are seen the sun, moon, 
and stars, monuments of his stupendous labors ; at his right 

1 For the Buddhist notions of cosmography and creation, see Remusat, 
M'langes Posthumes, pp. 65-131. 



6 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

hand, inseparable companions of his toils, but whose generation 
is left in obscurity, stand the dragon, the phoenix, and the tor- 
toise, and sometimes the unicorn, divine types and progenitors 
with himself of the animal creation. His efforts were continued 
eighteen thousand years, and by small degrees he and his work 
increased ; the heavens rose, the earth spread out and thickened, 
and Pwanku grew in stature, six feet every day, till, his labors 
done, he died for the benefit of his handiwork. His head 
became mountains, his breath wind and clouds, and his voice 
thunder ; his limbs were changed into the four poles, his veins 
into rivers, his sinews into the undulations of the earth's sur- 
face, and his flesh into fields ; his beard, like Berenice's hair, 
was turned into stars, his skin and hair into herbs and trees, 
and his teeth, bones, and marrow into metals, rocks, and precious 
stones ; his dropping sweat increased to rain, and lastly {nascitur 
ridiculus mus) the insects which stuck to his body were trans- 
formed into people ! 

Such was Pwanku, and these were his works. But these 
grotesque myths afford none of the pleasing images and per- 
sonifications of Greek fable or Egyptian symbols ; they fatigue 
without entertaining, and only illustrate the childish imagina- 
tion of their authors. Pwanku was succeeded by three rulers 
of monstrous forms called the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Human 
sovereigns, impersonations of a trinity of powers, whose traces 
and influences run through Chinese philosophy, religion, and 
politics ; their acts and characters are detailed with the utmost 
gravity, and more than Methusalean longevity allowed them to 
complete their plans. Their reigns continued eighteen thou- 
sand years (more or less according to the author quoted), during 
which time good government commenced, men learned to eat 
and drink, the sexes united, sleep was invented, and other im- 
provements adopted. One would think, if the subjects of these 
wonderful beings were as long-lived, great perfection might 
have been attained in these and other useful arts ; but the mys- 
terious tortoise, companion of Pwanku, on whose carapace was 
written, in tadpole-headed characters, the history of the anterior 
world, did not survive, and their record has not come down. 
After them flourished two other monarchs, one of them called 



MYTHS OF THE CKEATION. 7 

Yu-chau, which means 'having a nest,' and the other Sui-jin, or 
' match-man.' Whether the former invented nests for the abodes 
of his subjects, such as the Indians on the Orinoco have, is not 
stated ; but the latter brought down fire from heaven for them 
to cook with, and became a second, or rather the first, Prome- 
theus. 

. These fancies are gathered from a popular summary of 
knowledge, called the Coral Forest of Ancient Matters, and 
from the opening chapters of History Made Easy. A higher 
style of philosophizing is found in Chu Hi's disquisition, from 
which an extract has been given in Chapter XII. Another on 
Cosmogony will show that he comes no nearer to the great fact 
of creation than ancient western writers. 



In the beginning heaven and earth were just the light and dark air. This 
one air revolved, grinding round and round. When it ground quickly 
much sediment was compressed, which, having no means of exit, coagulated 
and formed the earth in the centre. The subtle portion of the air then 
became heaven and the sun, moon, and stars, which unceasingly revolve on 
the outside. The earth is in the centre and motionless ; it is not below the 
centre. 

Heaven revolving without ceasing, day and night also revolve, and hence 
the earth is exactly in the centre. If heaven should -stand still for one mo- 
ment, then the earth must fall down ; but heaven revolves quickly, and hence 
much sediment is coagulated in the centre. The earth is the sediment of the 
air ; and hence it is said, the light, pure air became heaven, the heavy, muddy 
air became earth. . . . 

At the beginning of heaven and earth, before chaos was divided, I think 
there were only two things — fire and water ; and the sediment of the water 
formed the earth. When one ascends a height and looks down, the crowd of 
hills resemble the waves of the sea in appearance : the water just flowed like 
this. I know not at what period it coagulated. At first it was very soft, but 
afterward it coagulated and became hard. One asked whether it resembled 
sand thrown up by the tide ? He replied, Just so ; the coarsest sediment of 
the water became earth, and the purest portion of the fire became wind, thunder, 
lightning, sun, and stars. . . . 

Before chaos was divided, the yin-yang, or light-dark air, was mixed up 
and dark, and when it divided the centre formed an enormous and most bril- 
liant opening, and the two i or principles were established. Shao Kang-tsieh 
considers one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years to be a 
yuen, orkalpa; then, before this period of one hundred and twenty-nine thou- 
sand six hundred years there was another opening and spreading out of the 
world ; and before that again, there was another like the present ; so that mo- 
tion and rest, light and darkness, have no beginning. As little things shadow 



8 HISTORY OF CHINAJ 

forth great things, this may be illustrated by the revolutions of day and 
night. . . . 

Kang-tsieh says, Heaven rests upon form, and earth reclines upon air. 
The reason why he repeats this frequently, and does not deviate from the idea, 
is lest people should seek some other place beyond heaven and earth. There 
is nothing outside heaven and earth, and hence their form has limits, while 
their air has no limit. Because the air is extremely condensed, therefore it 
can support the earth ; if it were not so the earth would fall down. ' 

A third belief respecting the position of the earth in the 
centre of the universe derives great strength in the opinion of 
intelligent natives from these speculations of Chu Hi. His 
theory considers the world to be a plane surface, straight, 
square, and large, measuring each way about 1,500 miles (5,600 
li), and bounded on the four sides by the four seas. The sun 
is estimated to be about 4,000 miles from the earth. Another 
calculation made it 81,394 li, and a third 216,781J li. 

One thing is observable in these fictions, characteristic of 
the Chinese at the present day : there is no hierarchy of gods 
brought in to rule and inhabit the world they made, no con- 
clave on Mt. Olympus, nor judgment of the mortal soul by 
Osiris ; no transfer of human love and hate, passions and hopes, 
to the powers above ; all here is ascribed to disembodied agen- 
cies or principles, and their works are represented as moving on 
in quiet order. There is no religion, no imagination ; all is im- 
passible, passionless, uninteresting. It may, perhaps, be con- 
sidered of itself as sensible as the Greek or Egyptian mythology, 
if one looks for sense in such figments ; but it has not, as in the 
latter countries, been explained in sublime poetry, shadowed 
forth in gorgeous ritual and magnificent festivals, represented 
in exquisite sculptures, nor preserved in faultless, imposing 
fanes and temples, filled with ideal creations. For this reason 
it appears more in its true colors, and, when compared with 
theirs, " loses discountenanced and like folly shows " — at least to 
us, who can examine both and compare them with the truth. 

Their pure mythological history ends with the appearance of 
Fuh-hi, and their chronology has nothing to do with the long 
periods antecedent, varying from forty-five to iive hundred 

1 Canon McClatchie's Confucian Cosmogony, pp. 53-59. 



CHINESE AND WESTERN CHRONOLOGY. 9 

thousand years. These periods are, however, a mere twinkling 
compared with the kulpas of the Hindus, whose highest era, 
called the Unspeakably Inexpressible, requires four million four 
hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred and forty- eight 
cyphers following a unit to represent it. If the epoch of Fuh-hi 
could be ascertained with any probability by comparison with the 
history of other nations, or with existing remains, it would tend 
not a little to settle some disputed chronological points in other 
countries ; but the isolation of the Chinese throughout their 
whole existence makes it nearly impossible to weave in the 
events of their history with those of other nations, by compar- 
ing and verifying them with biblical, Egyptian, or Persian 
annals. Perhaps further investigations in the vast regions of 
Eastern and Central Asia may bring to light corroborative testi- 
mony as striking and unexpected as the explorations in Mosul, 
Persepolis, and Thebes. 

The accession of Fuh- hi is placed in the Chinese annals b.c. 
2852, 1 and with him commences the period known among them 
as the " highest antiquity." The weight of evidence which the 
later chronological examinations of Hales and Jackson have 
brought to bear against the common period of four thousand and 
four years prior to the Advent, is such as to cast great doubt over 
its authenticity, and lead to the adoption of a longer period in 
order to afford time for many occurrences, which otherwise would 
be crowded into too narrow a space. Chinese chronology, if it be 
allowed the least credit, strongly corroborates the results of Dr. 
Hales' researches, and particularly so in the date of Fuh-hi's 
accession. This is not the place to discuss the respective claims 
of the two eras, but by reckoning, as he does, the creation to be 
five thousand four hundred and eleven years, and the deluge 
three thousand one hundred and fifty-five years, before the Ad- 
vent, we bring the commencement of ancient Chinese history 
three hundred and three years subsequent to the deluge, forty- 
seven before the death of Noah, and about three centuries 
before the confusion of tongues. If we suppose that the ante- 

1 Or 3322, according to Dr. Legge, whose date has been used elsewhere in 
this work, and has probably quite as much authority as the one above. 



10 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

diluvians possessed a knowledge of the geography of the world, 
and that JSoah, regarding himself as the monarch of the whole, 
divided it among his descendants before his death, there is 
nothing improbable in the further supposition that the progen- 
itors of the black-haired race, and others of the house and 
lineage of Shem, found their way from the valley of the 
Euphrates across the defiles and steppes of Central Asia, to the 
fertile plains of China before the end of the third diluvian cen- 
tury. Whether the surface of the world was the same after 
the cataclysm as before does not affect this point ; there was 
ample time for the multiplication of the species with the bless- 
ing promised by God, sufficient to form colonies, if there was 
time enough to increase to such a multitude as conspired to 
build the tower of Babel. 

The views of Dr. Legge, that the present Chinese descend 
from settlers who came through Central Asia along the Tarim 
Valley and across the Desert into Kansuh, about b.c. 2200, 
and settled around the elbow of the Yellow Eiver, under the 
leadership of Yao, Shun, Yu, and others, are very reasonable. 
These settlers found the land at that time occupied with tribes, 
whom they partly merged with themselves or drove into moim- 
tain recesses in Kweichau, where some of their descendants per- 
haps still remain. These earlier tribes may have furnished the 
names and reigns prior to Yao, and the later Chinese annalists 
incorporated them into their own histories, taking everything 
in early times as of course belonging to the li min, or ' black- 
haired race.' The lapse of a millennium between the Deluge 
and Yao allows plenty of time for several successive emigra- 
tions from Western and Central Asia into the inviting plains 
of China, which, through the want of a written language or 
the destruction of records, have come down to us in misty, 
doubtful legends. 

Fuh-hi and his seven successors are stated to have reigned 
seven hundred and forty-seven years, averaging ninety-three 
each. Those who follow Usher consider these monarchs to be 
Chinese travesties of the eight antediluvian patriarchs ; and 
Marquis d'Urban has gone so far as to write what he calls the 
Antediluvian History of China, collecting all the notices his- 



THE EIGHT EAKLT MCWARCHS. 11 

tory affords of their acts. The common chronology brings the 
deluge about thirteen years after the accession of Yao and the 
death of Shun (the last of the eight), B.C. 2205, or twenty -five 
years after the confusion of tongues. According to Hales, the 
last epoch is one hundred and twelve years before the call of 
Abraham, and these eight Chinese monarchs are therefore con- 
temporaries of the patriarchs who lived between Shem and 
Abraham, commencing with Salah and ending with Pallor. 
The duration of their reigns, moreover, is such as would bear 
the same proportion to ages of iive hundred years, which their 
contemporaries lived, as the present average of twenty and 
twenty-five years does to a life of sixty. The Assyrian tablets, 
deciphered by George Smith, contain a reference to the twenty- 
eighth century B.C., as the founding of that monarchy ; which 
is a notice of more value as a chronological epoch than any- 
thing in Chinese annals, indeed, and may help to countenance 
a date that had before been regarded as mythological. 

Supposing that the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, 
knowing from their fathers and grandfather, that the void 
world was before them, began to colonize almost as soon as they 
began to form families, three centuries would not be too long a 
time for some of them to settle in China, perhaps offsetting 
from Elam and Asshur, and other descendants of Shem in 
Persia. The capital of Fuh-hi slightly indicates, it may be 
thought, their route through Central Asia across the Desert to 
Kiayii kwan in Kansuh, and then down the Yellow River to 
the Great Plain near Kaifung. But these suppositions are only 
by the way, as is also the suggestion that teaching of fishing 
and grazing, the regulation of times and seasons, cultivation of 
music, and establishment of government, etc., compare well 
enough with the duties that might reasonably be supposed to 
belong to the founder of a colony and his successors, and subse- 
quently ascribed to them as their own inventions. The long 
period allotted to human life at that date would allow these 
arts and sciences to take root and their memory to remain in 
popular legends until subsequent historians incorporated them 
into their writings. The Chinese annalists fill up the reigns of 
these chiefs, down to the time of Yao, with a series of inven- 



12 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

tions and improvements in the arts of life and good government, 
sufficient to bring society to that degree of comfort and order they 
suppose consonant with the character of the monarchs. The 
earliest records of the Chinese correspond much too closely with 
their present character to receive full belief ; but they present an 
appearance of probability and naturalness not possessed by the 
early annals of Greece. No one contends for their credibility 
as history, but they are better than the Arabian Nights. 

The commencement of the sexagenary cycle 1 in the sixty- 
first year of Hwangti's reign (or b.c. 2637), live hundred and 
eighteen years after the deluge, eighty-two years after the death 
of Arphaxad, and about that time before the confusion of 
tongues, is worthy of notice. The use of the ten horary characters 
applied to days in order to denote their chronological sequence 
dates from the reign of Yu in the twentieth century b.c, and 
there are other passages in the Shu King showing similar ap- 
plication. Sz'ma Tsien's history now contains the first attempt 
to arrange the years in cycles of sixty ; but he cannot fairly be 
claimed as the inventor of this system. He might almost as 
well be regarded as the inventor of his whole annals, for all 
the materials out of which he compiled them have now per- 
ished except the canonical books. The mention of the indi- 
vidual Nao the Great, who invented it, and the odd date of its 
adoption in the middle of a reign, do not weaken the alleged 
date of its origin in the minds of those who are inclined to take 
a statement of this kind on its own basis. 

Three reigns, averaging eighty years' duration, intervened be- 
tween that of Hwangti and Yao, whose occupants were elected 
by the people, much as were Shemgar, Jephthah, and other 
judges in Israel, and probably exercised a similar sway. The 
reigns and characters of Yao and Shun have been immortalized 
by Confucius and Mencius ; whatever was their real history, 
those sages showed great sagacity in going back to those re- 
mote times for models and fixing upon a period neither fabu- 
lous nor certain, one which prevented alike the cavils of scepti- 
cism and the appearance of complete fabrication. 

1 Journal Asiatique, Avril, 1836, p. 394. 



THE DELUGE OF YAO. 13 

A tremendous deluge occurred during the reign of Yao, b.c. 
2293, caused, it is said, by the overflowing of the rivers in the 
north of China. Those who place the Koachic deluge b.c. 
2348 regard this as only a different version of that event ; 
Klaproth, who favors the Septuagint chronology, says that it is 
nearly synchronous with the deluge of Xisuthrus, b.c. 2297, a 
name derived, as is reasonably inferred by George Smith, from 
the Assyrian name Hasisadra, the ancient hero who survived 
the deluge. The record of this catastrophe in the Shu King is 
hardly applicable to an overwhelming flood : " The Emperor 
said, Oh ! chief of the four mountains, destructive in their over- 
throw are the waters of the inundation. In their vast extent 
they embrace the mountains and overtop the hills, threatening 
the heavens with their floods, so that the inferior people groan 
and murmur. Is there a capable man to whom I can assign 
the correction of this calamity ? " 1 They presented Kwan as a 
proper man, but he showed his inefficiency in laboring nine 
years without success to drain off the waters. Yao was then 
advised to employ Shun, who called in Yu, a son of Kwan, to 
his aid, and the floods were assuaged by deepening the beds 
of the rivers and opening new channels. These slight notices 
hardly comport w T ith a flood like the Eoachic deluge, and are 
with much greater probability referred to an overflow or a 
change in the bed of the Yellow River from its present course 
into the Gulf of Pechele through Chihli northeast, to its re- 
cent one along the lowlands of Kiangsu. The weight of topo- 
graphical evidence, combined with the strong chronological 
argument, the discussions in council said to have taken place 
regarding the disaster, and the time which elapsed before the 
region was drained, all pre-suppose and indicate a partial inun- 
dation, and strengthen the assumption that no traces of the 
Deluge exist in the histories of the Chinese. In our view of 
the chronology of the Bible, as compared with the Chinese, it 
requires a far greater constraint upon these records to bring 
them to refer to that event, than to suppose they allude to a 
local disaster not beyond the power of remedy. 

1 Legge's Shu King, p. 24, Hongkong, 1867. 



14 



HISTORY OF CHINA. 



The series of chieftains down to the accession of Yu may 
here be recapitulated. The entirely fabulous period ends with 
Sui-jin, and legendary history commences with Fuh-hi, who 
with f our of his successors (Nos. 2, 3, 7, and 8) are commonly 
known as the Five Sovereigns. Their names and reigns are as 
follows : 





Names. 


Years 
reigned. 


Began 

B.C. 


Other Events. 


1 

2 


Fuh-hi 

Shinnung 

Hwangti 


115 
140 
100 

84 
78 
78 
102 
50 


2852 
2737 
2697 
2597 
2513 
2435 
2357 
2255 


The Deluge, B.C. 3155. 
Death of Noah, B.C. 2805. 


4 
5 


Shauliau 

Chwenhiih 

Kuh 


Death of Arphaxad, 2715. 
Death of Shem, 2555. 
Rise of Egyptian monarchy, 2450. 
Eise of Babylonian " 2300. 
Abraham's birth, 2153. 


7 
8 


Yao 

Shun 









The records in the Shu King of Yao, Shun, and Yu the 
Great (b.c. 2205) are longer than those of any other persons 
who lived prior to Abraham. The chronicle represents the 
merits of Yu to have been first exhibited in reducing the 
waters and dividing the country into nine regions, and as he 
had assisted Shun in his government during his lifetime, he 
was unanimously called to the vacant dignity, and became the 
founder of the Hia dynasty. Allowing that the records of 
these times and people are brief and disjointed, and many 
things in them impossible to reconcile, still they are superior to 
the absurd tales describing the formation of some other ancient 
States, and should not be ridiculed as trivial or rejected as 
fabulous. The great advances made in settling obscure points 
in early history, by the success in deciphering records brought 
to light in Western Asia, lead to more respect for what we 
possess in Eastern Asia, rather than to reject the fragmentary 
records remaining. !Nb one regards them as trustworthy, like 
the clay tablets exhumed at Nineveh, but if Abraham found 
the Egyptians to be living under a regular government not one 
hundred and fifty years after this, and Damascus, Babylon, 
Erech, and other cities were then old, no one need be unwilling 
to give the Chinese a line of monarchs, and a population quite 



THE RECORDS OF YAO AND YTT. 15 

sufficient to have deepened the channel of a river or raised 
dikes to restrain it. The glorious reigns and spotless charac- 
ters of these three sovereigns are looked upon by the Chinese 
with much the same feelings of veneration that the Jews re- 
gard their three patriarchs ; and to have had, or to have imagined, 
such progenitors and heroes is, to say the least, as much to their 
credit as the Achilles, Ulysses, and Romulus of the Greeks and 
Romans. A curious analogy can also be traced between the 
scheming Ulysses, warlike Romulus, and methodical Yao, and the 
subsequent character of the three great nations they represent. 

Chinese historians supply many details regarding the conduct 
of Yu and Kieli rlwei, the first and last princes of the house of 
Ilia, all the credible particulars of which are taken from the 
Boole of Records and the Bamboo Annals. Dr. Jjegge candidly 
weighs the arguments in respect to the eclipse mentioned in the 
Yiih CAing, and gives his opinion as to its authenticity, even 
if it cannot yet be certainly referred to the year B.C. 2154. One 
such authentic notice lends strength to the reception of many 
vague statements, which are more likely to be the relics of fuller 
documents long since lost than the fabrications of later writers, 
such as were the Decretals of Isidore in the Middle Ages. In 
giving a full translation of the Bamboo Books in the prolego- 
mena of the Shu King^ Dr. Legge has shown one of the sources 
of ancient Chinese history outside of that work. There were 
many other works accessible to Sz'ma Tsien, nearly four cen- 
turies before they were discovered (a.d. 279), when he wrote 
his Annals. Pan Ku gives a list of the various books recovered 
after the death of Tsin Chi Hwangti, amounting in all to thir- 
teen thousand two hundred and nineteen volumes or chapters 
contained in six hundred and twenty different works. Well 
does Pauthier speak of the inestimable value wdiieh a similar 
catalogue of the extant literature of Greece and Rome at that 
epoch (b.c. 100) would now be. 

One of the alleged records of the reign of Yu is an inscrip- 
tion traced on the rocks of Kau-lau shau, one of the peaks of 
Mount Hang in Hunan, relating to the inundation. It con- 
tains seventy-seven characters only, and Amiot, who regarded 
it as genuine, has given its sense as follows : 



16 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

The venerable Emperor said, Oh ! aid and councillor ! Who will help me 
in administering my affairs ? The great and little islets (the inhabited places) 
even to their summits, the abodes of the beasts and birds, and all beings are 
widely inundated. Advise, send back the waters, and raise the dikes. For a 
long time, I have quite forgotten my family ; I repose on the top of the moun- 
tain Yoh-lu. By prudence and my labors, I have moved the spirits ; I know 
not the hours, but repose myself only in my incessant labors. The mountains 
Hwa, Yoh, Tai, and Hang, have been the beginning and end of my enter- 
prise ; when my labors were completed, I offered a thanksgiving sacrifice at 
the solstice. My affliction has ceased ; the confusion in nature has disap- 
peared ; the deep currents coming from the south flow into the sea ; clothes 
can now be made, food can be prepared, all kingdoms will be at peace, and 
we can give ourselves to continual joy. J 

Since Amiot's time, however, further opportunities have of- 
fered for more thorough inquiry into this relic by foreigners, 
and the results of their researches throw much doubt upon its 
authenticity, though they do not altogether destroy it. In the 
Introduction to the Shu King, Dr. Legge discusses the value 
of this tablet among other early records of that reign, and 
comes to the conclusion that it is a fabrication of the Han 
dynasty, if not later. The poet Han Yu (a.d. 800) gave it 
wide notoriety by his verses about its location and nature ; but 
when he was there he could not find it on the peak, and cited 
only a Taoist priest as having seen it. More than three centu- 
ries afterward Chu Hi was equally unsuccessful, and his opinion 
that it was made by the priests of that sect has had much 
weight with his countrymen. It was not till one Ho Chi went 
to Mount Hang, about a.d. 1210, and took a copy of the inscrip- 
tion from the stone then in a Taoist temple, that it was 
actually seen ; and not till about 1510, that Chang Ki-wan. 
another antiquary of Hunan province, published his copy in 
the form now generally accepted. In 1666 one Mao Tsang- 
kien again found the tablet on the summit of Ivau-lau, but 
reached it with much difficulty by the help of ladders and 
hooks, and found it so broken that the inscription could not 
be made out. A reduced facsimile of Mao's copy is given by 

1 Pauthier, La Chine, p. 53 ; J. Hager's Inscription of Yu, Paris, 1802 ; 
Legge's Shu King, pp. 67-74 ; Transactions of the iV. C. Br. R. A. Soc, No. 
V., 1869, pp. 78-84 ; Journal Asiatique, 1867, Tome X., pp. 197-337. 



THE TABLET OF YU. 17 

Dr. Legge, whose translation differs from Amiot's in some 
particulars. 

I received the words of the Emperor, saying, " Ah ! Associate helper, aiding 
noble ! The islands and islets may now be ascended, that were doors for the 
birds and beasts. You devoted your person to the great overflowings, and 
with the daybreak you rose up. Long were you abroad, forgetting your 
family ; you lodged at the mountain's foot as in a hall ; your wisdom schemed ; 
your body was broken ; your beart was all in a tremble. You went and 
sought to produce order and settlement. At Hwa, Yoh, Tai, and Hang, by 
adopting the principle of dividing the waters, your undertakings were com- 
pleted. With the remains of a taper, you offered your pure sacrifice. There 
were entanglement and obstruction, being swamped, and removals. The 
southern river flows on its course ; for ever is the provision of food made 
sure ; the myriad States enjoy repose ; the beasts and birds are for ever fled 
away." 

The characters in which this tablet is written are of an ancient 
tadpole form, and so difficult to read that grave doubts exist as 
to their proper meaning — and even as to which of two or 
three forms is the correct one. Since the copy of Mao was 
taken, the Manchu scholar Kwan-wan, when Governor-General 
of Liang Hu in 1868, erected a stone tablet at Wu-chang, in 
the Pavilion of the Yellow Stork, upon the eminence overlook- 
ing the Yangtsz'. This he regarded as a true copy of the 
authentic Yu Pa% or ' Tablet of Yu.' A facsimile of this 
tablet, and of another rubbing from a stone now existing at the 
foot of Mount Hang (which is alleged to be an exact repro- 
duction of the original on its top), was published by "W. H. 
Medhurst in the J¥. O. Asiatic Society Journal for 1869. A 
comparison of these three will give the reader an idea of the 
difficulties and doubts attending the settlement of the credi- 
bility of this inscription. A living native writer quoted by Mr. 
Medhurst says that the earliest notice of the tablet is by Tsin 
Yung of the Tang dynasty, about a.d. 700, from which he in- 
fers that the people of the time of Tang must have seen the 
rock and its inscription. He regards the latter as consisting of 
fairy characters, utterly unreadable, and therefore all attempts 
to decipher them as valueless and misleading. 

Amid so many conflicting opinions among native scholars, 
the verdict of foreigners may safely await further discoveries, 



18 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

and the day when competent observers can examine these local- 
ities and tablets for themselves. Without exaggerating the 
importance and credibility of the Shu King and other ancient 
Chinese records, they can be received as the writings of a very 
remote period ; and while their claims to trustworthiness would 
be fortified if more intimations had been given of the manner 
in which they were kept during the long period antecedent to the 
era of Confucius, they still deserve a more respectful consider- 
ation than some modern writers are disposed to allow them. 
For instance, Davis remarks : " Yu is described as nine cubits in 
height, and it is stated that the skies rained gold in those days, 
which certainly (as Dr. Morrison observes) lessens the credit of 
the history of this period." Now, without laying too much 
stress upon the record, or the objections against it, this height 
is but little more than that of Og of Bashan, even if we adopt 
the present length of the cubit fourteen and one-tenth inches, 
English ; and if kin, here called gold, be translated metal (which 
it can just as well be), it may be a notice of a meteoric shower of 
extraordinary duration. Let these venerable writings be in- 
vestigated in a candid, cautious manner, weighing their internal 
evidence, and comparing their notices of those remote periods 
as much as they can be with those of other nations, and they 
will illustrate ancient history and customs in no slight degree. 
Mr. Murray has given a synopsis from Mailla of what is re- 
corded of the Hia dynasty, which will fairly exhibit the matter 
of Chinese history. It is here introduced somewhat abridged, 
with dates inserted. 

The accession of Yu (b. c. 2205) forms a remarkable era in Chinese history. 
The throne, which hitherto had been more or less elective, became from this 
period hereditary in the eldest son, with only those occasional and yiolent in- 
terruptions to which every despotic government is liable. The national an- 
nals, too, assume a more regular and authentic shape, the reigns of the 
sovereigns being at the same time reduced to a probable duration. 

Yu justly acquired a lasting veneration, but it was chiefly by his labors 
under his two predecessors. When he himself ascended the throne, age had 
already overtaken him ; still the lustre of his government was supported by 
able councillors, till it closed with his life at the end of seven years. Many of 
the grandees wished, according to former practice, to raise to the throne 
Pi-yih, his first minister, and a person of distinguished merit ; but regard for 
the father, in this case, was strengthened by the excellent qualities of his son 



EAELY HISTORY OF THE HIA DYNASTY. 19 

Ki, or Ti KI {i.e., the Emperor Ki), and even P£-yih insisted that the prince 
should be preferred (2197). His reign of nine years -was only disturbed by the 
rebellion of a turbulent subject, and he was succeeded (2188) by his son, Tai 
Kang. But this youth was devoted to pleasure ; music, wine, and hunting 
entirely engrossed his attention. The Chinese, after enduring him for twenty- 
nine years, dethroned him (2159), and his brother, Chung Kang, was nomi- 
nated to succeed, and held the reins of government for thirteen years with a 
vigorous hand. He was followed by his son, Siang (2146), who, destitute of 
the energy his situation required, gave himself up to the advice of his minis- 
ter Yeh, and was by him, in connection with his accomplice, Hantsu, declared 
incapable of reigning. The usurper ruled for seven years, when he was 
killed ; and the rightful monarch collected his adherents and gave battle to 
Hantsu and the son of Yeh in the endeavor to regain his throne. Siang was 
completely defeated, and lost both his crown and life ; the victors immediate- 
ly marched to the capital, and made so general a massacre of the family that 
they believed the name and race of Yu to be for ever extinguished. 

The Empress Min, however, managed to escape, and fled to a remote city, 
where she brought forth a son, called Shau Kang ; and the better to conceal 
his origin, she employed him as a shepherd boy to tend flocks. Reports of 
the existence of such a youth, and his occupation, at length reached the ears 
of Hantsu, who sent orders to bring him, dead or alive. The royal widow then 
placed her son as under-cook in the household of a neighboring governor, 
where the lad soon distinguished himself by a spirit and temper so superior to 
this humble station, that the master's suspicions were roused, and obliged him 
to disclose his name and birth. The officer, being devotedly attached to the 
house of Yu, not only kept the secret, but watched for an opportunity to re- 
instate him, and meanwhile gave him a small government in a secluded situa- 
tion, which he prudently administered. Yet he was more than thirty years 
old before the governor, by engaging other chiefs in his interest, could assemble 
such a force as might justify the attempt to make head against the usurper. 
The latter hastily assembled his troops and led them to the attack, but was 
defeated and taken prisoner by the young prince Chu himself ; and Shau 
Kang, with his mother, returned with acclamations to the capital. His reign 
is reckoned to have been sixty-one years' duration in the chronology of the 
time, which includes the usurpation of forty years of Hantsu. 

The country was ably governed by Shau Kang, and also by his son, Chu 
(2057), who ruled for seventeen years ; but the succeeding sovereigns, in many 
instances, abandoned themselves to indolence and pleasure, and brought the 
kingly name into contempt. From Hwai to Kieh Kwei, a space of two hundred 
and twenty-two years, between B.C. 2040 and 1818, few records remain of the 
nine sovereigns, whose bare names succeed each other in the annals. At length 
the throne was occupied by Kieh Kwei (1818), a prince who is represented as 
having, in connexion with his consort, Mei-hi, practised every kind of violence 
and extortion, in order to accumulate treasure, which they spent in unbridled 
voluptuousness. They formed a large pond of wine, deep enough to float a boat, 
at which three thousand men drank at once. It was surrounded, too, by pyramids 
of delicate viands, which no one, however, was allowed to taste, till he had first 
intoxicated himself out of the lake. The drunken quarrels which ensued were 



20 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their favorite amusement. In the interior of the palace the vilest orgies wer« 
celebrated, and the venerable ministers, who attempted to remonstrate against 
these excesses, were either put to death or exiled. The people were at once 
indignant and grieved at such crimes, which threatened the downfall of the 
dynasty ; and the discarded statesmen put themselves under the direction of 
the wise I Yin, and advised Chingtang, the ablest of their number, and a de- 
scendant of Hwangti, to assume the reins of government, assuring him of their 
support. He with reluctance yielded to their solicitations, and assembling a 
force marched against Kieh Kwei, who came out to meet him at the head of a 
numerous army, but fled from the contest on seeing the defection of his troops, 
and ended his days in despicable obscurity, after occupying the throne fifty- 
two years. ' 

Chinese annals are generally occupied in this way ; the Em- 
peror and his ministers fill the whole field of historic vision ; 
little is recorded of the condition, habits, arts, or occupations of 
the people, who are merely considered as attendants of the mon- 
arch, which is, in truth, a feature of the ancient records of 
nearly all countries and people. Monarchs controlled the chron- 
icles of their reigns, and their own vanity, as well as their ideas 
of government and authority led them to represent the people 
as a mere background to their own stately dignity and acts. 

The Shang dynasty began b.c. 1766, or about one hundred and 
twenty years before the Exodus, and maintained an unequal sway 
over the feudal States composing the Empire for a period of six 
hundred and forty-four years. Its first monarch, Chingtang, or 
Tang the Successful, is described as having paid religious worship 
to Shangti, under which name, perhaps, the true God was 
intended. On account of a severe drought of seven years' 
duration, this monarch is reported to have prayed, saying, 
" I the child Li presume to use a dark colored victim, and 
announce to thee, O Shang-tien Hao ('High Heaven's. Ruler '). 
Now there is a great drought, and it is right I should be held 
responsible for it. I do not know but that I have offended 
the powers above and below." With regard to his own con- 
duct, he blamed himself in six particulars, and his words 
were not ended when the rain descended copiously. 

The fragmentary records of this dynasty contained in the 
Shu King are not so valuable to the student who wishes merely 



Hugh Murray, China, Vol. I., pp. 51-55 (edition of 1843). 



THE SHANG DYNASTY. 21 

to learn the succession of monarchs in those days, as to one who 
inquires what were the principles on which they ruled, what 
were the polity, the religion, the jurisdiction, and the checks of 
the Chinese government in those remote times. The regular 
records of those days will never be recovered, but the preser- 
vation of the last two parts of the Shu King indicates their 
existence by fair inference, and encourages those who try to re- 
construct the early annals of China to give full value even to 
slight fragments. But these parts have been of great service to 
the people since they were written, in teaching them by precept 
and example on what the prosperity of a State was founded, and 
how their rulers could bring it to ruin. In these respects there 
are no ancient works outside of the Bible with which they can 
at all be compared. The later system of examination has given 
them an unparalleled influence in molding the national character 
of the Chinese. Of the eleven chapters now remaining all are 
occupied more or less with the relative duties of the prince and 
rulers, enforcing on each that the welfare of all was bound up 
with their faithfulness. One quotation will give an idea of 
their instructions. " Order your affairs by righteousness, order 
your heart by propriety, so shall you transmit a grand example 
to posterity. I have heard the saying, He who finds instructors 
for himself comes to the supreme dominion ; he who says that 
others are not equal to himself comes to ruin. He who likes to 
ask becomes enlarged ; he who uses only himself becomes small. 
Oh ! he who would take care for his end must be attentive to 
his beginning. There is establishment for the observers of pro- 
priety, and overthrow for the blinded and wantonly indifferent. 
To revere and honor the way of Heaven is the way ever to 
preserve the favoring regard of Heaven." 1 

The chronicles of the Shang dynasty, as gathered from the 
Bamboo Books and other later records, resemble those of the Hia 
in being little more than a mere succession of the names of the 
sovereigns, interspersed here and there with notices of some 
remarkable events in the natural and political world. Luxurious 
and despised princes alternate with vigorous and warlike ones 

'Part IV., Book II., Chap. IV., 8-9. 



22 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

who commanded respect, and the condition of the State measura- 
bly corresponds with the character of the monarchs, the feudal 
barons sometimes increasing in power and territory by encroach- 
ing on their neighbors, and then suffering a reduction from some 
new State. The names of twenty-eight princes are given, the 
accounts of whose reigns are indeed fuller than those of the 
, dukes of Edoin in Genesis, but their slight notices would be 
more interesting if the same confidence could be reposed in 
them. 

The bad sovereigns occupy more room in these fasti than the 
good ones, the palm of wickedness being given to Chan-sin, with 
whom the dynasty ended. The wars which broke out during 
this dynasty were numerous, but other events also find a place, 
though hardly anything which throws light on society or civil- 
ization. Droughts, famines, and other calamities were frequent 
and attended by dreadful omens and fearful sights ; this fancied 
correlation between natural casualties and political convulsions 
is a feature running through Chinese history, and grows out of 
the peculiar position of the monarch as the vicegerent of heav- 
en. The people seem to have looked for control and protec- 
tion more to their local masters than to their lord paramount, 
ranging themselves under their separate banners as they were 
bidden. The History Made Easy speaks of the twenty-fifth 
monarch, Wu-yih (b.c. 1198), as the most wicked of them all. 
" Having made his images of clay in the shape of human beings, 
dignified them with the name of gods, overcome them at gam- 
bling, and set them aside in disgrace, he then, in order to com- 
plete his folly, made leathern bags and filled them with blood, 
and sent them up into the air, exclaiming, when his arrows hit 
them and the blood poured down, ' I have shot heaven,' mean- 
ing, I have killed the gods." 

The names of Chan-sin and Tan-ki are coupled with those 
of Kieh and Mi-hi of the Hia dynasty, all of them synonymous 
in the Chinese annals for the acme of cruelty and licentiousness 
— as are those of Xero and Messalina in Roman history. Chau- 
sin is said one winter's morning to have seen a few women 
walking barelegged on the banks of a stream collecting shell- 
fish, and ordered their legs to be cut off, that he might see the 



CHAU-SIN — RISE OF THE CHAU DYJSASTY. 23 

marrow of persons who could resist cold so fearlessly- The 
heart of one of his reprovers was also brought him, in order to 
see wherein it differed from that of cowardly ministers. The 
last Book of Shang contains the vain remonstrance of another 
of them, who tells his sovereign that his dynasty is in the con- 
dition of one crossing a large stream who can find neither ford 
nor bank. Many acts of this nature alienated the hearts of the 
people, until Wan wang, the leader of a State in the northwest 
of China, united the principal men against his misrule; but 
dying, bequeathed his crown and power to his son, Wu wang. 
He gradually gathered his forces and met Chau-sin at the head 
of a great army at Muh, near the junction of the rivers Ki and 
Wei, north of the Yellow River in Honan, where the defeat of 
the tyrant was complete. Feeling the contempt he was held in, 
and the hopeless struggle before him, he fled to his palace and 
burned himself with all his treasures, like another Sardanapalns. 
though his immolation (in b.c. 1122) preceded the Assyrian's by 
five centuries. 

Wu wang, the martial king, the founder of the Chau dynasty, 
his father, Wan wang, and his brother, Duke Chau, are among 
the most distinguished men of antiquity for their erudition, 
integrity, patriotism, and inventions. Wan wang, Prince of 
Chau, was prime minister to Tai-ting, the grandfather of Chau- 
sin, but was imprisoned for his fidelity. His son obtained his 
liberation, and the sayings and acts of both occupy about twenty 
books in Part Y. of the Shu King. Duke Chau survived his 
brother to become the director and support of his nephew ; his 
counsels, occupying a large part of the history, are full of wisdom 
and equity. Book X. contains his warning advice about drunken- 
ness, which has been remarkably influential among his country- 
men ever since. JS r o period of ancient Chinese history is more 
celebrated than that of the founding of this dynasty, chiefly 
because of the high character of its leading men, who were 
regarded by Confucius as the impersonations of everything wise 
and noble. Wu wang is represented as having invoked the 
assistance of Shangti in his designs, and, when he was success- 
ful, returned thanks and offered prayers and sacrifices. He 
removed the capital from the province of Honan to the present 



24 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Si-ngan, in Shensi, where it remained for a long period. This 
prince committed a great political blunder in dividing the Em- 
pire into petty states, thus destroying the ancient pure monarchy, 
and leaving himself only a small portion of territory and power, 
which were quite insufficient, in the hands of a weak prince, to 
maintain either the state or authority due the ruling sovereign. 
The number of States at one time was one hundred and twenty- 
five, at another forty-one, and, in the time of Confucius, about 
six hundred years after the establishment of the dynasty, fifty- 
two, some of them large kingdoms. From about b.c. 700 the 
imperial name and power lost the allegiance and respect of the 
feudal princes, and gradually became contemptible. Its nominal 
sway extended over the country lying north of the Yangtsz' 
kiang, the regions on the south being occupied by tribes of whom 
no intelligible record has been preserved. 

The duration of the three dynasties, the Ilia, Shang, and 
Chau, comprises a long and obscure period in the history of the 
world, extending from b.c. 2205 to 249, from the time when 
Terah dwelt in Charran, and the sixteenth dynasty of Theban 
kings ruled in Egypt, down to the reigns of Antiochus Soter 
and Ptolemy Philadelphus and the translation of the Septuagint. 

I. — The Hia dynasty, founded by Yu the Great, existed four 
hundred and thirty-nine years, down to b.c. 1766, under seven- 
teen monarchs, the records of whose reigns are very brief. 
Among contemporary events of importance are the call of 
Abraham, in the year b.c. 2093, Jacob's flight to Mesopotamia 
in 1916, Joseph's elevation in Egypt in 18S5, and his father's 
arrival in 1863. 

II. — The Shang dynasty began with Tang the Successful, 
and continued six hundred and forty-four years, under twenty- 
eight sovereigns, down to b.c 1122. This period was char- 
acterized by wars among rival princes, and the power of the 
sovereign depended chiefly upon his personal character. The 
principal contemporary events were the Exodus of the Israelites 
in 1648, their settlement in Palestine in 1608, judgeship of 
Othniel, 1564 ; of Deborah, 1406 ; of Gideon, 1359 ; of Sam- 
son, 1202 ; and death of Samuel in 1122. 

III. — The Chau dynasty began with Wu wang, and con- 



CREDIBILITY OF THESE EARLY RECORDS. 25 

tinned for eight hundred and seventy-three years, under thirty- 
five monarchs, down to b.c. 249, the longest of any recorded in 
history. The sway of many of these was little more than 
nominal, and the feudal States increased or diminished, accord- 
ing to the vigor of the monarch or the ambition of the princes. 
In b.c. 770 the capital was removed from Kao, near the River 
Wei in Shensi, to Lohyang, in the western part of Honan ; 
this divides the house into the Western and Eastern Chau. 
The contemporary events of these eight centuries are too 
numerous to particularize. The accession of Saul in 1110 ; of 
David, 1070 ; of Rehoboam, 990 ; taking of Troy, 1084 ; of 
Samaria, 719 ; of Jerusalem, 586 ; death of Nebuchadnezzar, 
561 ; accession of Cyrus and return of the Jews, 551 ; battle of 
Marathon, 490 ; accession of Alexander, 235 ; etc. The con- 
quest of Egypt by Alexander in 322 brought the thirty-first 
and last dynasty of her native kings to an end, the first of 
which had begun under Menes about b.c. 2715, or twenty-two 
years after the supposed accession of Shinnung. 

The absence of any great remains of human labor or art 
previous to the Great Wall, like the Pyramids, the Temple of 
Solomon, or the ruins and mounds in Syria, has led many to 
doubt the credibility of these early Chinese records. They as- 
cribe them to the invention of the historians of the Han dynasty, 
working up the scattered relics of their ancient books into a 
readable narrative, and therefore try to bring every statement 
to a critical test for which there are few facts. The analogies 
between the records in the Shu King and the Aryan myths 
are skilfully explained by Mr. Kingsmill by reference to the 
meanings of the names of persons and places and titles, and a 
connection shown which has the merit at least of ingenuity and 
beauty. Almost the only actual known relic of these three 
dynasties is the series of ten stone drums {shih hu) now in the 
Confucian temple at Peking. They were discovered about a.d. 
600, in the environs of the ancient capital of the Chau dynasty, 
and have been kept in Peking since the year 1126. They are 
irregularly shaped pillars, from eighteen to thirty-five inches 
high and about twenty-eight inches across ; the inscriptions are 
much worn, but enough remains to show that they commemo- 



26 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

rate a great hunt of Siien wang (e.g. 827) in the region where 
they were found. 1 

Among the feudal States under the house of Chau, that of 
Tsin, on the northwest, had long been the most powerful, occu- 
pying nearly a fifth of the country, and its inhabitants forming 
a tenth of the whole population. One of the princes, called 
Chausiang wang, carried his encroachments into the acknowl- 
edged imperial possessions, and compelled its master, Tungchau 
kiun, the last monarch, to humble himself at his feet. Although, 
in fact, master of the whole Empire, he did not take the title, 
but left it to his son, Chwangsiang wang, who exterminated the 
blood royal and ended the Chau dynasty, yet lived only three 
years in possession of the supreme power. 

The son carried on his father's successes until he had reduced 
all the petty States to his sway. He then took the name of Chi 
Hwangti (' Emperor First ') of the Tsin dynasty, and set himself 
to regulate his conquests and establish his authority by secur- 
ing to his subjects a better government than had been experi- 
enced during the feudal times. He divided the country into 
thirty-six provinces, over which he placed governors, and went 
throughout them all to see that no injustice was practised. 

This monarch, who has been called the Napoleon of China, 
was one of those extraordinary men who turn the course of 
events and give an impress to subsequent ages ; Klaproth gives 
him a high character as a prince of energy and skill, but native 
historians detest his name and acts. It is recorded that at his 
new capital, Hienyang, on the banks of the Hwai, he constructed 
a palace exactly like those of all the kings who had submitted 
to him, and ordered that all the precious furniture of each and 
those persons who had inhabited them should be transported to 
it, and everything rearranged. The whole occupied an immense 
space, and the various parts communicated with each other by 
a magnificent colonnade and gallery. He made progresses 
through his dominions with a splendor hitherto unknown, ac- 
companied by officials and troops from all parts, thus making 

1 Journal of the N. G. Branch of R. A. Society, Vols. VII., p. 137 ; VIII. , pp. 
23, 133. In the last paper, by Dr. Bushell, translations and fac-similes of the 
inscriptions are given, with many historical notices. 



TSIN CHI HWANGTI, THE ; EMPEROR FIRST.' 27 

tlie people interested in each, other and consenting to his sway. 
He also built public edifices, opened roads and canals to facili- 
tate intercourse and trade between the various provinces, and 
repressed the incursions of the Huns, driving them into the wilds 
of Mongolia. In order to keep them out effectually, he con- 
ceived the idea of extending and uniting the short walls which 
the princes of some of the Northern States had erected on their 
frontier into one grand wall, stretching across the Empire from 
the sea to the Desert. This gigantic undertaking was completed 
in ten years (b.c. 204), at a vast expense in men and material, 
and not until the family of its builder had been destroyed. 
This mode of protecting the country, when once well begun, 
probably commended itself to the nation. It is impossible, in- 
deed, to imagine otherwise how it could have been done, for 
the people were required to supply a quota of men from each 
place, feed and clothe them while at work, and continue this 
expense until their portion was built. No monarch could have 
maintained an army which could force his subjects against their 
will to do such a work or carry it on to completion after his 
death. It is one of the incidental proofs of a great population 
that so many laborers were found. However ineffectual it was 
to preserve his frontiers, it has made his name celebrated 
throughout the world, and his dynasty Tsin has given its name 
to China for all ages and nations. 1 

The vanity of the new monarch led him to endeavor to de- 
stroy all records written anterior to his own reign, that he might 
be by posterity regarded as the first Emperor of the Chinese 
race. Orders were issued that every book should be burned, 
and especially the writings of Confucius and Mencius, explana- 
tory of the Shu King upon the feudal States of Chau, whose 
remembrance he wished to blot out. This strange command 
was executed to such an extent that many of the Chinese literati 
believe that not a perfect copy of the classical works escaped 
destruction, and the texts were only recovered by rewriting 
them from the memories of old scholars, a mode of reproduction 



1 Pauthier, La Chine, pp. 30, 221 ; Mem. cone. Us Chinois, Tome III., p. 
183. 



28 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

that does not appear so singular to a Chinese as it does to us. 
If the same literary tragedy should be re-enacted to-day, thou* 
sands of persons might easily be found in China who could re- 
write from memory the text and commentary of their nine 
classical works. " Nevertheless," as Klaproth remarks, " they 
were not in fact all lost ; for in a country where writing is so 
common it was almost impossible that all the copies of works 
universally respected should be destroyed, especially at a time 
when the material on which they were written was very durable, 
being engraved with a stylet on bamboo tablets, or traced upon 
them with dark-colored varnish." The destruction was no doubt 
as nearly complete as possible, and not only were many works 
entirely destroyed, but a shade of doubt thereby thrown over 
the accuracy of others, and the records of the ancient dynasties 
rendered suspicious as well as incomplete. Not only were books 
sought after to be destroyed, but nearly five hundred literati 
were buried alive, in order that no one might remain to re- 
proach, in their writings, the Emperor First with having com- 
mitted so barbarous and insane an act. 

The dynasty of Tsin, set up in such cruelty and blood, did 
not long survive the death of its founder ; his son was unable 
to maintain his rule over the half-subdued feudal chieftains, 
and after a nominal reign of seven years he was overcome by 
Liu Pang, a soldier of fortune, who, having been employed by 
one of the chiefs as commander of his forces, used them to sup- 
port his own authority when he had taken possession of the 
capital. Under the name of Kautsu he became the founder of 
the Han dynasty, and his accession is regarded as the commence- 
ment of modern Chinese history. The number and character 
of its heroes and literati are superior to most other periods, and 
to this day the term Han-tsz\ or ' Sons of Han,' is one of the 
favorite names by which the Chinese call themselves. 

The first fourteen princes of this dynasty reigned in Shensi, 
but Kwangwu removed the capital from Chang-an to Lohyang, 
as was done in the Chau dynasty seven centuries before, the old 
one being ruined. During the reign of Ping ti (or the ' Em- 
peror Peace ') the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ, was 
born in Judea, a remarkable coincidence which has often 



THE HOUSE OF HAN. 29 

attracted notice. During the reign of Ming ti, a.d. 65, a depu- 
tation was sent to India to obtain the sacred books and au- 
thorized teachers of Buddhism, which the Emperor intended to 
publicly introduce into China. This faith had already widely 
spread among his subjects, but henceforth it became the popular 
belief of the Chinese and extended eastward into Japan. This 
monarch and his successor, Chang ti, penetrated with their armies 
as far westward as the Caspian Sea, dividing and overcoming the 
various tribes on the confines of the Desert and at the foot of the 
Tien shan, and extending the limits of the monarchy in that direc- 
tion farther than they are at present. The Chinese sway was 
maintained with varied success until toward the third century, 
and seems to have had a mollifying effect upon the nomads of 
those regions. In these distant expeditions the Chinese heard of 
the Romans, of whom their authors speak in the highest terms : 
u Everything precious and admirable in all other countries," say 
they, " comes from this land. Gold and silver money is coined 
there ; ten of silver are worth one of gold. Their merchants 
trade by sea with Persia and India, and gain ten for one in their 
traffic. They are simple and upright, and never have two prices 
for their goods ; grain is sold among them very cheap, and large 
sums are embarked in trade. Whenever ambassadors come to the 
frontiers they are provided with carriages to travel to the capital, 
and after their arrival a certain number of pieces of gold are fur- 
nished them for their expenses." This description, so character- 
istic of the shop-keeping Chinese, may be compared to many 
accounts given of the Chinese themselves by western authors. 
Continuing the resume of dynasties in order — 
IY. — The Tsin dynasty is computed to end with Chwangsiang 
by the authors of the History Made Easy, and to have existed 
only three years, from b.c. 249 to 246. 

Y. — The After Tsin dynasty is sometimes joined to the pre- 
ceding, but Chi Hwangti regarded himself as the first monarch, 
and began a new house, which, however, lasted only forty-four 
years, from b.c. 246 to 202. The commotions in the farthest 
East during this period were not less destructive of life than 
the wars in Europe between the Carthaginians and Romans, and 
the Syrians, Greeks, and Egyptians. 



30 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

VI., VII. The Han and Eastern Han dynasties. — Liu Pang 
took the title of Han for his dynasty, after the name of his 
principality, and his family swayed the Middle Kingdom from 
b.c. 202 to a.d. 221, under twenty-six monarchs. The Han 
dynasty was the formative period of Chinese polity and institu- 
tions, and an instructive parallel can be drawn between the 
character and acts of the Emperors who reigned four hundred 
years in China, and the numerous consuls, dictators, and em- 
perors who governed the Roman Empire for the same period 
from the time of Scipio Africanus to Heliogabalus. The foun- 
der of the Han is honored for having begun the system of com- 
petitive examinations for office, and his successors, Wan ti, 
Wu ti, and Kwang-wn, developed literature, commerce, arts, 
and good government to a degree unknown before anywhere in 
Asia. In the West the Romans became the great world power, 
and the advent of Christ and establishment of His church within 
its borders only, render this period the turning epoch of prog- 
ress among mankind. 

The period between the overthrow of the Han dynasty, a.d. 
190, and the establishment of the Eastern Tsin, a.d. 317, is 
one of the most interesting in Chinese history, from the variety 
of characters which the troubles of the times developed. The 
distractions of this period are described in the History of the 
Tliree States, but this entertaining work cannot be regarded as 
much better than a historical novel. It has, however, like 
Scott's stories, impressed the events and actors of those days 
upon the popular mind more than any history in the language. 

VIII. — The After Han dynasty began a.d. 211, and con- 
tinned forty-four years, under two princes, to a.d. 265. The 
country was divided into three principalities, called Wei, Wu, 
and Shuh. The first, under the son of Tsao Tsao, ruled the 
whole northern country at Lohyang, and was the most powerful 
of them for about forty years. The second, under Siun Kien, 
occupied the eastern provinces, from Shantung and the Yellow 
River down to the mountains of Fuhkien, holding his court at 
Nanking. The third, under Liu Pi, is regarded as the legiti- 
mate dynasty from his affinity with the Han ; he had his capi- 
tal at Chingtu f u, in Sz'chuen. 



RESUME OF THE DYNASTIES. 31 

IX. — The Tsin dynasty was founded by Sz'ma Chao, a general 
in the employ of Hau of the last house, who seated himself on 
the throne of his master a.d. 265, the year of the latter's death. 
His son, Sz'ma Yen, took his place and extended his power over 
the whole Empire by 280. The inroads of the Huns and internal 
commotions were fast reducing the people to barbarism. Four 
Emperors of this house held their sway at Lohyang during fifty- 
two years, till a.d. 317. The Huns maintained their sway in 
JShensi until a.d. 352, under the designations of the Han and 
Chau dynasties. It is related of Liu Tsung, one of this barbaric 
race, that he built a great palace at Chang-an, where he gathered 
a myriad, of the first subjects of his kingdom and lived in 
luxury and magnificence quite unknown before in China. Among 
his attendants was a body-guard of elegantly dressed women, 
many of whom were good musicians, which accompanied him 
on his progresses. 

X. — The Eastern Tsin is the same house as the last, but 
Yuen ti having moved his capital in 317 from Lohyang to 
banking, his successors are distinguished as the Eastern Tsin. 
Eleven princes reigned during a period of one hundred and 
three years, down to a.d. 420. Buddhism was the chief religion 
at this time, and the doctrines of Confucius were highly esteemed ; 
" children of concubines, priests, old women, and nurses ad- 
ministered the government," says the indignant annalist. At 
this period twelve independent and opposing kings struggled 
for the ascendency in China, and held their ephemeral courts in 
the north and west. It was at this time that Constantine moved 
the capital of the Roman Empire in 328, and the nations of 
northern Europe under Attila invaded Italy in 410. 

XL — The Sung, or Northern Sung dynasty, as it is often 
called to distinguish it from the XXIId dynasty (a.d. 970), is 
the first of the four dynasties known as the Nan-jpeli Chao, or 
' South-north dynasties,' which preceded the Sui. It was founded 
by Liu Yu, who commanded the armies of Tsin, and gradually 
subdued all the opposing States. Displeased at the weakness 
of his master, Ngan ti, he caused him to be strangled, and 
placed his brother, Kung ti, upon the throne, who, fearing a like 
fate, abdicated the empty crown, and Liu Yu became monarch 



32 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

under the name of Kautsu, a.d. 420. Eight princes held the 
throne till a.d. 479, many of them monsters of cruelty, and soon 
cut off, when Siau Tau-ching, Duke of Tsi, the prime minister, 
recompensed them as their ancestor had those of Tsin. 

XII. Tsi dynasty. — The new monarch took the name of Kan 
ti, or ' High Emperor,' but enjoyed his dignity only four years. 
Four princes succeeded him at Nanking, the last of whom, Ho 
ti, was besieged in his capital by a faithless minister, assisted 
by the prince of Liang, who overthrew the dynasty a.d. 502, 
after a duration of twenty-three years. 

XIII. Liang dynasty. — The first Emperor, ¥u ti, reigned 
forty-eight years, and reduced most of his opponents'; his do- 
minions are described as being mostly south of the Yangtsz' 
River, the Wei ruling the regions north of it. Wu ti did much 
to restore literature and the study of Confucius ; envoys from 
India and Persia also came to his court, and his just sway allowed 
the land to recruit. In his latter days he was so great a de- 
votee of Buddhism that he retired to a monastery, like Charles 
V., but being persuaded to resume his crown, employed his time 
in teaching those doctrines to his assembled courtiers. Three 
successors occupied the throne, the last of whom, King ti, was 
killed a.d. 557, after surrendering himself, by the general of 
the troops, who then seized the crown. 

XIV. Chin dynasty. — Three brothers reigned most of the 
time this house held its sway. During this period and that of 
the three preceding families, the Iiunnish kingdom of Wei 
ruled the northern parts of China from a.d. 386 to 534, under 
eleven monarchs, when it was violently separated into the East- 
ern and Western Wei, and a third one called Chan, which ere 
long destroyed the last Wei at Chang-an and occupied northwest 
China. It is probable that the intercourse between China and 
other parts of Asia was more extensive and complete during 
the Wei dynasty than at any other period. Its sovereigns had 
preserved peaceful relations with their ancestral seats, and with 
the tribes beyond Lake Baikal and the Obi Biver to the North 
Sea. Trade seems to have flourished throughout the regions 
lying between the Caspian Sea and Corea, and the records of 
this period present accounts of the State in this vast tract to be 



the sui and taxg dynasties. 33 

found nowhere else. One of these works referred to by Re- 
musat is the report of officers sent by Tai-wu during his reign 
to travel through his dominions (424-451) and give full accounts 
of them. 

One of the sovereigns of Chau, TVu ti (a.d. 561-572), had 
given his daughter in marriage to Yang Kien, the Prince of Sui, 
one of his ministers, who, gradually extending his influence, 
took possession of the throne of his master Tsing ti in 580. In 
a few years he restored order to a distracted land by bringing 
the several States under his sway and reuniting all China under 
his hand a.d. 589, after it had been divided nearly four cen- 
turies. 

XY. Sui dynasty. — The founder of this house has left an en- 
during name in Chinese annals by a survey of his dominions and 
division of them into interdependent chau, Hun, and Men, with 
corresponding officers, an arrangement which has ever since 
existed. He patronized letters and commerce, and tried to in- 
troduce the svstem of caste from India. After a vigorous reign 
of twenty-four years he was killed by his son Yang ti, who 
carried on his father's plans, and during the fourteen years of 
his reign extended the frontiers through the Tarim Yalley and 
down to the Southern Ocean. His murder by one of his generals 
was the signal for several ambitious men to rise, but the Prince 
of Tang aided the son to rule for a year or two till he was re- 
moved, thus bringing the Sui dynasty to an end after thirty -nine 
years, but not before its two sovereigns had taught their subjects 
the benefits of an undivided sway. 

XYT. Taxg dynasty. — This celebrated line of princes began 
its sway in peace, and during the two hundred and eighty-seven 
years (618 to 908) they held the throne China was probably the 
most civilized country on earth ; the darkest days of the West, 
when Europe was wrapped in the ignorance and degradation of 
the Middle Ages, formed the brightest era of the East. They 
exercised a humanizing effect on all the surrounding countries, 
and led their inhabitants to see the benefits and understand the 
management of a government where the laws were above the 
officers. The people along the southern coast were completely 
civilized and incorporated into the Chinese race, and mark the 



34 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

change by always calling themselves Tang Jin, or ' Men of 
Tang.' An interesting work on the trade and condition of 
China at this time is the Aklibar-al-Syn oual-JIind, or ' Obser- 
vations on China and India,' by two Arab travellers to those 
lands in the years 851 and 878, compiled by Abu Zaid and 
translated by Reinaud in 1845. 1 Li Shi-min, the son of Li Yuen 
the founder of this dynasty, may be regarded as the most ac- 
complished monarch in the Chinese annals — famed alike for his 
wisdom and nobleness, his conquests and good government, his 
temperance, cultivated tastes, and patronage of literary men. 
While still Prince of Tang he contributed greatly to his father's 
elevation and to the extension of his sway over the regions of 
Central Asia. When the house of Tang was fully acknowl- 
edged, and the eleven rival States which had started up on the 
close of the house of Sui had been overcome, the capital was 
removed from Lohyang back to Chang-an, and everything done 
to compose the disordered country and reunite the distracted 
State under a regular and vigorous administration. Feeling 
himself unequal to all the cares of his great office, Li Yuen, 
known as Kau-tsu Shin Yao ti (lit. ' High Progenitor, the Di- 
vine Yao Emperor '), resigned the yellow in favor of his son, 
who took the style of Ching hwan (' Pure Observer ') for his 
reign, though his posthumous title is Tai-tsung Wan-wu ti (' Our 
Exalted Ancestor, the Literary-Martial Emperor'), a.d. 627, 
and still further extended his victorious arms. One of his first 
acts was to establish schools and institute a system of literary 
examinations ; he ordered a complete and accurate edition of 
all the classics to be published under the supervision of the 
most learned men in the Empire, and honored the memory of 
Confucius with special ceremonies of respect. Extraordinary 
pains were taken to prepare and preserve the historical records 
of former days and draw up full annals of the recent dynasties ; 
these still await the examination of western scholars. 

He constructed a code of laws for the direction of his high 
officers in their judicial functions, and made progresses through 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 6; Reinaud, Relations des Voyages, 2 Vols., 
Paris, 1845. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Introd., p. cii. 



TAI-TSUNG, FOUNDER OF THE HOUSE OF TANG. 35 

his dominions to inspect the condition of the people. During 
his reign the limits of the Empire were extended over all the 
Turkish tribes lying west of Ivansuh and south of the Tien 
shan as far as the Caspian Sea, which were placed under four 
satrapies or residences, those of Kuche, Pisha or Khoten, Ha- 
rashar, and Kashgar, as their names are at present. West of the 
last many smaller tribes submitted and rendered a partial sub- 
jection to the Emperor, who arranged them into sixteen govern- 
ments under the management of a governor-general over their 
own chieftains. His frontiers reached from the borders of 
Persia, the Caspian Sea, and the Altai of the Ivirghis steppe, 
along; those mountains to the north side of Gobi eastward to 
the Inner Hing-an. Sogdiana and part of Khorassan, and the 
regions around the Hindu-kush, also obeyed him. The rulers 
of Mpal and Magadha or Bahar in India sent their salutations 
by their ambassadors, and the Greek Emperor Theodosius sent 
an envoy to Si-ngan in 643 carrying presents of rubies and 
emeralds, as did also the Persians. The Nestorian missionaries 
also presented themselves at court. Tai-tsung received them 
with respect, and heard them rehearse the leading tenets of 
their doctrine ; he ordered a temple to be erected at his capital, 
and had some of their sacred books translated for his examina- 
tion, though there is no evidence now remaining that any por- 
tion of the Bible was done into Chinese at this time. 

JSear the close of his life Tai-tsung undertook an expedition 
against Corea, but the conquest of that country was completed 
by his son after his death. A sentiment has been preserved at 
this time of his life which he uttered to his sons while sailing 
on the Piver Wei : " See, my children, the waves which float our 
fragile bark are able to submerge it in an instant ; know as- 
suredly that the people are like the waves, and the Emperor like 
this fragile bark." During his reign his life was attempted 
several times, once by his own son, but he was preserved from 
these attacks, and died after a reign of twenty-three years, 
deeply lamented by a grateful people. The Chinese accounts 
state that the foreign envoys resident at his court cut off their 
hair, some of them disfigured their faces, bled themselves, and 
sprinkled the blood around the bier in testimony of their grief. 



36 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Whatever may have been the truth in this respect, many proofs 
exist of the distinguished character of this monarch, and that 
the high reputation he enjoyed during his lifetime was a just 
tribute to his excellences. He will favorably compare with 
Akbar, Marcus Aurelius, and Kanghi, or with Charlemagne and 
Harun Al Raschid, who came to their thrones in the next cen- 
tury.^ 

Tai-tsung was succeeded by his son Kau-tsung, whose indolent 
imbecility appeared the more despicable after his father's vigor, 
but his reign fills a large place in Chinese history, from the ex- 
traordinary career of his Empress, Wu Tsih-tien, or ¥u hao 
(' Empress ¥u ') as she is called, who by her blandishments ob- 
tained entire control over him. The character of this woman 
has, no doubt, suffered much from the bad reputation native 
historians have given her, but enough can be gathered from 
their accounts to show that with all her cruelty she understood 
how to maintain the authority of the crown, repress foreign in- 
vasions, quell domestic sedition, and provide for the wants of 
the people. Introduced to the harem of Tai-tsung at the age of 
fourteen, she was sent at his death to the retreat where all his 
women were condemned for the rest of their days to honorable 
imprisonment. While a member of the palace Kau-tsung had 
been charmed with her appearance, and, having seen her at one 
of the state ceremonies connected with the ancestral worship, 
brought her back to the palace. His queen, Wang-shi, also 
favored his attentions in order to draw them off from another 
rival, but Wu Tsih-tien soon obtaining entire sway over the 
monarch, united both women against her ; she managed to 
fill the principal offices with her friends, and by a series of 
manoeuvres supplanted each in turn and became Empress. One 
means she took to excite suspicion against Wang-shi was, on 
occasion of the birth of her first child, after the Empress had 
visited it and before Ivau-tsung came in to see his offspring, to 
strangle it and charge the crime upon her Majesty, which led 
to her trial, degradation, and imprisonment, and ere long to her 
death. 

As soon as she became Empress (in 655), Wu began gradually 
to assume more and more authority, until, long before the Em- 



THE EMPEESS WU TSIH-TIEN. 37 

peror's death in 684, she engrossed the whole management of 
affairs, and at his demise openly assumed the reins of govern- 
ment, which she wielded for twenty-one years with no weak 
hand. Her generals extended the limits of the Empire, and her 
officers carried into effect her orders to alleviate the miseries of 
the people. Her cruelty vented itself in the murder of all 
who opposed her will, even to her own sons and relatives ; and 
her pride was rather exhibited than gratified by her assuming the 
titles of Queen of Heaven, Holy and Divine Ruler, Holy Mother, 
and Divine Sovereign. When she was disabled by age her son, 
Chung-sung, supported by some of the first men of the land, 
asserted his claim to the throne, and by a palace conspiracy suc- 
ceeded in removing her to her own apartments, where she died 
aged eighty-one years. Her character has been blackened in 
native histories and popular tales, and her conduct held up as 
an additional evidence of the evil of allowing women to meddle 
with governments. 1 

A race of twenty monarchs swayed the sceptre of the house 
of Tang, but after the demise of the Empress ¥u Tsih-tien 
none of them equalled Tai-tsung, and the Tang dynasty at last 
succumbed to ambitious ministers lording over its imbecile 
sovereigns. In the reign of Hiuen-tsung, about the year 722, 
the population of the Fifteen Provinces is said to have been 
52,884,818. The last three or four Emperors exhibited the usual 
marks of a declining house — eunuchs or favorites promoted by 
them swayed the realm and dissipated its resources. At last, 
Li Tstien-chung, a general of Chau-tsung, whom he had aided 
in quelling the eunuchs in 904, rose against his master, destroyed 
him, and compelled his son, Chau-siuen ti, to abdicate, a.d. 907. 

XYII. After Liang dynasty. — The destruction of the famous 
dynasty loosened the bonds of all government, and nine sepa- 
rate kings struggled for its provinces, some of whom, as Apki 
over the Ivitan in the north-east, succeeded in founding kingdoms. 
The Prince of Liang, the new Emperor, was unable to extend 
his sway beyond the provinces of Honan and Shantung. After 



1 Chinese Bepository, Vol. III., p. 543 ; Canton Miscellany, No. 4, 1831, pp. 
246 ff. 



38 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

a short reign of six years he was killed by his brother, Liang 
Chu-tien, who, on his part, fell under the attack of a Turkish 
general, and ended this dynasty, a.d. 923, after a duration of 
sixteen years. 

XVIII. After Tang dynasty. — The conqueror called himself 
Chwang-tsung, and his dynasty Tang, as if in continuation of 
that line of princes, but this mode of securing popularity was 
unsuccessful. Like Pertinax, Aurelian, and others of the Ro- 
man emperors, he was killed by his troops, who chose a succes- 
sor, and his grandson, unable to resist his enemies, burned him- 
self in his palace, a.d. 936, thus ending the weak dynasty after 
thirteen years of struggle. 

XIX. After Tsest dynasty. — The Kitan or Tartars of Liau- 
tung, who had assisted in the overthrow of the last dynasty, 
compelled the new monarch to subsidize them at his accession, 
a.d. 936, by ceding to them sixteen cities in Chihli, and promis- 
ing an annual tribute of three hundred thousand pieces of silk. 
This disgraceful submission has ever since stigmatized Tien-fuh 
(' Heavenly Happiness ') in the eyes of native historians. His 
nephew who succeeded him is known as Chuh ti (the ' Carried- 
away Emperor '), and was removed in 947 by those who put 
him on the throne, thus ending the meanest house which ever 
swayed the black-haired people. 

XX. After Han dynasty. — The Tartars now endeavored to 
subdue the whole country, but were repulsed by Liu Chi-yuen, 
a loyal general who assumed the yellow in 947, and called his 
dynasty after the renowned house of Han ; he and his son held 
sway four years, till a.d. 951, and then were cut off. 

XXI. After Chau dynasty. — Ivo Wei, the successful aspi- 
rant to the throne, maintained his seat, but died in three years, 
leaving his power to an adopted son, Shi-tsung, whose vigorous 
rule consolidated his still unsettled sway. His early death and 
the youth of his son decided his generals to bestow the sceptre 
upon the lately appointed tutor to the monarch, which closed 
the After Chau dynasty a.d. 960, after a brief duration of nine 
years. He was honored with a title, and, like Richard Cromwell, 
allowed to live in quiet till his death in 973, a fact creditable to 
the new monarch. These short-lived houses between a.d. 907- 



THE WU TAI, OR FIVE DYNASTIES. 39 

960 are known in Chinese history as the Wu tai, or 'Five 
Dynasties.' While they struggled for supremacy in the valley 
of the Yellow River, the regions south and west were portioned 
among seven houses, who ruled them in a good degree of security. 
Fuhkien was held by the King of Min, and Kiangnan by the 
King of Wu; the regions of Sz'chuen, Xganhwui, and.Kansuh 
were held by generals of note in the service of Tang ; another 
general held Kwangtung at Canton through two or three reigns ; 
and another exercised sway at Kingchau on the Tangtsz' River. 
It is needless to mention them all. During this period Europe 
was distracted by the wars of the Normans and Saracens, and 
learning there was at a low ebb. 

XXII. — Sung dynasty began a.d. 970, and maintained its power 
over the whole Empire for one hundred and fifty-seven years, till 
a.d. 1127. The mode in which its founder, Chau Kwang-yun, was 
made head of the State, reminds one of the way in which the 
Praetorian guards sometimes elevated their chiefs to the throne of 
the Caesars. After the military leaders had decided upon their 
future sovereign they sent messengers to announce to him his new 
honor, who found him drunk, and " before he had time to reply 
the yellow robe was already thrown over his person." At the 
close of his reign of seventeen years the provinces had mostly sub- 
mitted to his power at Kaifung, but the two Tartar kingdoms of 
Liau and Ilia remained independent. This return to a central- 
ized government proves the unity of the Chinese people at this 
time in their own limits, as well as their inability to induce their 
neighbors to adopt the same system of government. The suc- 
cessors of Tai-tsu of Sung had a constant struggle for existence 
with their adversaries on the north and west, the Liau and Hia, 
whose recent taste of power under the last two dynasties had 
shown them their opportunity. On the return of prosperity under 
his brother's reign of twenty-two years, the former institutions 
and political divisions were restored throughout the southern half 
of the Empire ; good government was secured, aided by able 
generals and loyal ministers, and the rebels everywhere quelled. 
Chin-tsung was the third sovereign, and his reign of forty-one 
years is the brightest portion of the house of Sung. The kings 
of Hia in Kansuh acknowledged themselves to be his tributaries, 



40 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

but he bought a cowardly peace with the Liau on the north-east. 
During his reign and that of his son, Tin-tsung, a violent con- 
troversy arose among the literati and officials as to the best 
mode of conducting the government. Some of them, as Sz'ma 
Kwang the historian, contended for the maintenance of the old 
principles of the sages. Others, of whom Wang Ngan-shi was the 
distinguished leader, advocated reform and change to the entire 
overthrow of existing institutions. For the first time in the his- 
tory of China, two political parties peacefully struggled for 
supremacy, each content to depend on argument and truth for 
the victory. The contest soon grew too bitter, however, and the 
accession of a new monarch, Shin-tsung, enabled Wang to dis- 
possess his opponents and manage State affairs as he pleased. 
After a trial of eight or ten years the voice of the nation restored 
the conservatives to power, and the radicals were banished be- 
yond the frontier. A discussion like this, involving all the 
cherished ideas of the Chinese, brought out deep and acute 
inquiry into the nature and uses of things generally, and the 
writers of this dynasty, at the head of whom was Chu Hi, 
made a lasting impression on the national mind. 

The two sons of Shin-tsung were unable to oppose the northern 
hordes of Liau and Hia, except by setting a third aspirant against 
both. These were the Niu-chih or Kin, 1 the ancestors of the 
present Manchus, who carried away Hwui-tsung as a captive in 
1125, and his son too the next year, pillaging Lohyang and 
possessing themselves of the region north of the Yellow River. 
This closed the Northern Sung. The Kin established themselves 
at Peking in 1118, whence they were driven in 1235 by Genghis 
Khan, and fled back to the ancestral haunts on the Songari and 
Liau Rivers. 

XXIII. — Southern Sung dynasty forms part of the preceding, 
for Kao-tsung, the brother of the last and ninth monarch of the 
weakened house of Northern Sung, seeing his capital in ruins, 
fled to Nanking, and soon after to the beautiful city of Hang- 
chau on the eastern coast at the mouth of the Tsientang River. 

1 Two graves of the Kin monarchs exist on a hill west of Fangshan hien, 
fifty miles south-west of Peking ; they were repaired by Kanghi. Dr. Bushell 
visited them in 1870. 



THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUNG. 41 

Nanking was pillaged by the Kin, but Hangchau was too far for 
them. It gradually grew in size and strength, and became a 
famous capital. Kao-tsung resigned in 1162, after a reign of 
thirty-six years, and survived his abdication twenty -four years. 
The next Emperor was Hiao-tsung, who also resigned the yellow 
to Kwang-tsung, his son, and he again yielded it to his son Nmg- 
tsung. This last, in his distress, called the rising Mongols into his 
service in 1228 to help against the Kin. The distance from the 
northern frontier, where the Mongols were flushed with their 
successes over the Tangouth of Hia at Kinghia in 1226, was too 
far for them to aid Ning-tsung at this time. He was, however, 
relieved from danger to himself, and the Mongols deferred their 
intentions for a few years. From this date for about fifty years 
the Sung grew weaker and weaker under the next five sover- 
eigns, until the last scion, Ti Ping, was drowned with some of 
his courtiers, one of whom, clasping him in his arms, jumped 
from the vessel, and ended their life, dignity, and dynasty to- 
gether. It had lasted one hundred and fifty-two years under 
nine monarchs, who showed less ability than those of Northern 
Sung, and were all much inferior as a whole to the house of Tang. 
Their patronage of letters and the arts of peace was unaccom- 
panied by the vigor of their predecessors, for they were unwill- 
ing to leave the capital and risk all at the head of their troops. 
It is the genius and philosophy of its scholars that has made the 
Sung one of the great dynasties of the Middle Kingdom. 

XXIV. — The Yuen - dynasty was the first foreign sway to 
which the Sons of Han had submitted ; their resistance to the 
army, which gradually overran the country, was weakened, how- 
ever, by treachery and desultory tactics until the national spirit 
was frittered away. During the interval between the capture of 
Peking by Genghis and the final extinction of the Sung dynasty, 
the whole population had become somewhat accustomed to 
Mongol rule. Having no organized government of their own, 
these khans were content to allow the Chinese the full exercise 
of their own laws, if peace and taxation were duly upheld. 
Kublai had had ample opportunity to learn the character of his 
new subjects, and after the death of Mangu khan in 1260 and his 
own establishment at Peking in 1264, he in fifteen years brought 



42 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

his vast dominions under a methodical sway and developed their 
resources more than ever. Though failing in his attempt to con- 
quer Japan, he enlarged elsewhere his vanishing frontiers during 
his life till they could neither be defined nor governed. His 
patronage of merit and scholarship proves the good results of 
his tutelage in China, while the short-lived glory of his adminis- 
tration in other hands chiefly proved what good material he 
had to work with in China in comparison with his own race. 1 
He was a vigorous and magnificent prince, and had, moreover, 
the advantage of having his acts and splendor related by Marco 
Polo — a chronicler worthy of his subject. The Grand Canal, 
which was deepened and lengthened during his reign, is a last- 
ing token of his sagacity and enlightened policy. An inter- 
esting monument of this dynasty, erected in 1345, is the gate- 
way in the Kii-yung kwan (pass) of the Great Wall north of 
Peking. Upon the interior of this arch is cut a Buddhist charm 
in six different kinds of character — Mongolian, Chinese, Oigour, 
antique Devanagari, Niu-chih, and Tibetan. 2 

After the Grand Khan's death the Mongols retained their 
power under the reign of Ching-tsung, or Timur khan, a grandson 
of Kublai, and Wu-tsung, or Genesek khan, 3 a nephew of the for- 
mer, but their successors met with opposition, or were destroyed 
by treachery. The offices were also filled with Mongols, without 
any regard to the former mode of conferring rank according 
to literary qualifications, and the native Chinese began to be 
thoroughly dissatisfied with a sway in which they had no part. 
The last and eleventh, named Ching-tsung, or Tohan-Timur, 
came to the throne at the age of thirteen, and gave himself up 
to pleasure, his eunuchs and ministers dividing the possessions 
and offices of the Chinese among themselves and their adherents. 
This conduct aroused his subjects, and Chu Yuen-chang, a ple- 
beian by birth, and formerly a priest, raised the standard of 

1 See Remusat, JVbuveaux Melanges, Tomes I. , p. 427; II. , pp. 64, 88, and 80- 
97, for a series of notices concerning the Mongol generals and history. 

'Compare Wylie in the i?. A. Soc. Jour., Vol. V. (N.S.), p. 14; Fergusson, 
Hist. Ind. and East. Architecture, p. 708 ; Yule's Polo, I., pp. 28, 409. 

3 This should he Kaishau-kulluk khan, called Kai-sang in Chinese. Remusat, 
Nouveaux Melanges, Tome II., pp. 1-4. 



THE SUPEEMACY OF THE MONGOLS. 43 

revolt, and finally expelled the Mongols, a.d. 1368, after a dura- 
tion of eighty-nine years. 1 

Like most of the preceding dynasties, the new one established 
itself on the misrule, luxury, and weakness of its predecessors ; 
the people submitted to a vigorous rule, as one which exhibited 
the true exposition of the decrees of Heaven, and upheld its 
laws and the harmony of the universe ; while a weak sovereign 
plainly evinced his usurpation of the " divine utensil " and un- 
fitness for the post by the disorders, famines, piracies, and 
insurrections which afflicted the mismanaged State, and which 
were all taken by ambitious leaders as evidences of a change in 
the choice of Heaven, and reasons for their carrying out the new 
selection which had fallen on them. Amid all the revolutions 
in China, none have been founded on principle ; they were mere 
mutations of masters, attended with more or less destruction of 
life, and no better appreciation of the rights of the subject or 
the powers of the rulers. Nor without some knowledge of the 
high obligations man owes his Maker and himself is it easy to 
see whence the sustaining motive of free religious and political 
institutions can be derived. 

XX Y. The Ming, i.e., ' Bright dynasty.' — The character of 
Hungwu, as Chu Yuen-chang called his reign on his accession, 
has been well drawn by Remusat, who accords him a high rank 
for the vigor and talents manifested in overcoming his ene- 
mies and cementing his power. He established his capital 
at Nanking, or the £ Southern Capital,' and after a reign of 
thirty years transmitted the sceptre to his grandson, Kienwan, 
a youth of sixteen. Yungloh, his son, dissatisfied with this ar- 
rangement, overcame his nephew and seized the crown after 
five years, and moved the capital back to Peking in 1403. This 
prince is distinguished for the code of laws framed under his 
auspices, which has, with some modifications and additions, 
ever since remained as the basis of the administration. During 
the reign of Kiahtsing the Portuguese came to China, and in that, 
of Wanleih, about 1580, the Jesuits gained an entrance into the 

1 One of the causes of their easy overthrow is stated to have been the enor- 
mous robbery of the people by the lavish issue of paper money, which at last 
became worthless. 



44 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

country. In his time, too, the Mu-chih, or Kin, whom Gen- 
ghis had driven away in 1235, again became numerous and 
troublesome, and took possession of the northern frontiers. 
The first chieftain of the Manchus who attained celebrity was 
Tienming, who in 1618 published a manifesto of his designs 
against the house of Ming, in which he announced to Heaven 
the seven things he was bound to revenge. These consisted of 
petty oppressions upon persons passing the frontiers, assisting 
his enemies, violating the oath and treaty of peace entered into 
between the two rulers, and killing his envoys. The fierce no- 
mad had already assumed the title of Emperor, and " vowed to 
celebrate the funeral of his father with the slaughter of two 
hundred thousand Chinese." Tienming overran the north-east- 
ern parts of China, and committed unsparing cruelties upon the 
people of Liautung, but died in 1627, before he had satisfied 
his revenge, leaving it and his army to his son Tientsung. 

The Chinese army fought bravely, though unsuccessfully, 
against the warlike Manchus, whose chief not only strove to 
subdue, but endeavored, by promises and largesses, to win the 
troops from their allegiance. The apparently audacious attempt 
of this small force to subdue the Chinese was assisted by nu- 
merous bodies of rebels, who, like wasps, sprung up in various 
parts of the country, the leaders of each asserting his claims to 
the throne, and all of them rendering their common country an 
easier prey to the invader. One of them, called Li Tsz'-ching, 
attacked Peking, and the last Emperor Hwai-tsung, feeling that 
he had little to hope for after the loss of his capital, and had 
already estranged the affections of his subjects by his ill con- 
duct, first stabbed his daughter and then hung himself, in 1643, 
and ended the house of Ming, after two hundred and seventy- 
six years. The usurper received the submission of most of the 
eastern provinces, but the Chinese general, ¥u San-kwei, in 
command of the army on the north, refused to acknowledge him, 
and, making peace with the Manchus, invoked the aid of Tsung- 
teh in asserting the cause of the rightful claimant to the throne. 
This was willingly agreed to, and the united army marched to 
Peking and speedily entered the capital, which the rebel chief 
had left a heap of ruins when he took away his booty. The 



THE MING DYNASTY. 45 

Manchus now declared themselves the rulers of the Empire, but 
their chief dying, his son Shuuchi, who at the age of six suc- 
ceeded his father in 1644, is regarded as the first Emperor; 
his uncle, Aina-wang, ruled and reorganized the administration 
in his name. 

XXYI. The Tseng, 1 i.e., ' Pure dynasty.' — During the eigh- 
teen years he sat upon the throne Shunchi and his officers sub- 
dued most of the northern and central provinces, but the mar- 
itime regions of the south held out against the invaders, and 
one of the leaders, by means of his fleets, carried devastation 
along the whole coast. The spirit of resistance was in some 
parts crushed, and in others exasperated by an order for all 
Chinese to adopt as a sign of submission the Tartar mode of 
shaving the front of the head and braiding the hair in a long 
queue. Those who gave this order, as Davis remarks, must 
have felt themselves very strong before venturing so far upon 
the spirit of the conquered, and imposing an outward universal 
badge of surrender upon all classes of the people. " Many are 
the changes which may be made in despotic countries, without 
the notice or even the knowledge of the larger portion of the 
community ; but an entire alteration in the national costume 
affects every individual equally, from the highest to the lowest, 
and is perhaps of all others the most open and degrading mark 
of conquest." This order was resisted by many, who chose to 
lose their heads rather than part with their hair, but the man- 
date was gradually enforced, and has now for about two centu- 
ries been one of the distinguishing marks of a Chinese, though 
to this day the natives of Fuhkien near the seaboard wear a 
kerchief around their head to conceal it. The inhabitants of 
this province and of Kwangtung held out the longest against 
the invaders, and a vivid account of their capture of Canton, 
November 26, 1650, where the adherents of the late dynasty had 
intrenched themselves, has been left us by Martini, an eye- 
witness. Some time after its subjugation a brave man, Ching 
Chi-lung, harassed them by his fleet; and his son, Ching 



1 For the origin of the Manchus see Klaproth, Memoires sur VAsie, Tome I., 
p. 441. 



46 HISTOPwY OF CHINA. 

Cliing-kung, or Koxinga, molested the coast to such a degiee 
that the Emperor Kanghi, in 1665, ordered all the people to re- 
tire three leagues inland, in order to prevent this heroic man 
from reaching them. This command was generally obeyed, 
and affords an instance of the singular mixture of power and 
weakness seen in many parts of Chinese legislation ; for it 
might be supposed that a government which could compel its 
maritime subjects to leave their houses and towns and go into 
the country at great loss, might have easily armed and equipped 
a fleet to have defended those towns and homes. Koxinga, 
finding himself unable to make any serious impression upon 
the stability of the new government, went to Formosa, drove 
the Dutch out of Zealandia, and made himself master of the 
island. 1 

Shunchi died in 1661 and was succeeded by his son Kanghi, 2 
who was eight years old at his accession, and remained under 
guardians till he was fourteen, when he assumed the reins of 
government, and swayed the power vested in his hands with a 
prudence, vigor, and success that have rendered him more cele- 
brated than almost any other Asiatic monarch. It was in 1661 
that Louis XIY. had assumed the sovereignty of France at about 
the same age, and for fifty -four years the reigns of these two 
monarchs ran parallel. During Kanghi's unusually long reign 
of sixty-one years (the longest in Chinese annals, except Taimao 
of the Shang dynasty, b.c. 1637-1562), he extended his domin- 
ions to the borders of Kokand and Badakshan on the west, and 
to the confines of Tibet on the south-west, simplifying the ad- 
ministration and consolidating his power in every part of his 
vast dominions. To his regulations, perhaps, are mainly owing 
the unity and peace which the Empire has exhibited for more 
than a century, and which has produced the impression abroad 
of the unchangeableness of Chinese institutions and charac- 
ter. This may be ascribed, chiefly, to his indefatigable applica- 

1 Compare the interesting translation from a Chinese record of the capture 
of Fort Zealandia, by H. E. Hobson, Journal of N. C. Br. R. A. Society, No. 
XL, Art. L, 1876. 

2 Remusat, Nouveaux Melanges, Tome II. , pp. 21-44 ; Bouvet, Life of Kang* 
lt% ; Gutzlaff, Life of Kanghi. 



THE MANCHUS— THE EMPEROR KANGHI. 47 

tion to all affairs of State, to his judgment and penetration in 
the choice of officers, his economy in regard to himself and 
liberal magnificence in everything that tended to the good of 
his dominions, and his sincere desire to promote the happiness 
of his people by a steady and vigorous execution of the laws 
and a continual watchfulness over the conduct of his high offi- 
cers. These qualities have perhaps been unduly extolled by 
his foreign friends and biographers, the Romish missionaries, 
and if their expressions are taken in their strictest sense, as we 
understand them, they do elevate him too high. He is to be 
compared not with Alfred or William III. of England, Louis IX. 
or Henry IV. of France, and other European kings, but with 
other Chinese and Asiatic princes, few of whom equal him. 
The principal events of his long reign are the conquest of the 
Eleuths, and subjugation of several tribes lying on the north and 
south of the Tien shan ; an embassy across the Russian Posses- 
sions in 1713 to the khan of the Tonrgouth Tartars, prepara- 
tory to their return to the Chinese territory ; the settlement of 
the northern frontier between himself and the czar, of which 
Gerbillon has given a full account ; the survey of the Empire by 
the Romish missionaries ; and the publication of a great the- 
saurus of the language. In many things he showed himself 
liberal toward foreigners, and the country was thrown open to 
their commerce for many years. 

His son Yungching succeeded in 1722, and is regarded by 
many natives as superior to his father. He endeavored to sup- 
press Christianity and restore the ancient usages, which had 
somewhat fallen into desuetude during his father's sway, and 
generally seems to have held the sceptre to the benefit of his 
subjects. Yungching is regarded as an usurper, and is said to 
have changed the figure four to fourteen on the billet of nomi- 
nation, himself being the fourteenth son, and the fourth being 
absent in Mongolia, where he was soon after arrested and im- 
prisoned, and subsequently died in a palace near Peking ; 
whether he was put to death or not is uncertain. Kienlung suc- 
ceeded Yungching in 1736, and proved himself no unworthy 
descendant of his grandfather Kanghi ; like him he had the 
singular fortune to reign sixty years, and for most of that 



48 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

period in peace. 1 Some local insurrections disturbed the general 
tranquillity, principally among the aborigines in Formosa and 
Kweichau, and in an unprovoked attack upon Birmah his armies 
sustained a signal defeat and were obliged to retreat. The in- 
cursions of the Xipalese into Tibet induced the Dalai Lama to 
apply to him for assistance, and in doing so he contrived to es- 
tablish a guardianship over the whole country, and place bodies 
of troops in all the important positions, so that in effect lie 
annexed that vast region to his Empire, but continued the lamas 
in the internal administration. 

During his long reign Kienlung exhausted the resources of 
his Empire by building useless edifices and keeping up large 
armies. He received embassies from the Russians, Dutch, and 
English, by which the character of the Chinese and the nature of 
their country became better known to western nations. These 
embassies greatly strengthened the impression on the side of the 
Chinese of their superiority to all other nations, for they looked 
upon them as acknowledgments on the part of the governments 
who sent them of their allegiance to the court of Peking. The 
presents were regarded as tribute, the ambassadors as deputies 
from their masters to acknowledge the supremacy of the Em- 
peror, and the requests they made for trade as rather another form 
of receiving presents in return than a mutual arrangement for a 
trade equally beneficial to both. Kienlung abdicated the throne 
in favor of his fifth son and retired with the title of Supreme 
Emperor, while his son, Kiaking, had that of Emperor. 

The character of this prince was dissolute and superstitious, 
and his reign of twenty-five years was much disturbed by secret 
combinations against the government and by insurrections 2 and 

1 His character and enthusiasm for literary pursuits merit, on the whole, the 
lines inscribed by the Roman Catholic missionaries beneath his portrait in the 
Jfemoires cone, les (Illinois : 

Occupe sans relache a touts les soins divers 

D'un gouvernement qu'on admire, 
Le plus grand potentat qui soit dans l'univers 

Et le meilleur lettre qui soit dans son Empire. 

2 Among the most serious of these was the revolt of the Peh lien kiao. Let- 
tre* Edifiantcs, Tome III., pp. 291-298, 353, 379, etc. In 1789 the ladrones 
infested the southern coasts. lb., Tome II., p. 492. 



THE EEIGNS OF KIENXTTNG AND TAUKWANG. 49 

pirates in and about the Empire. A conspiracy against him 
broke out in the palace in 1813, where he was for a time in 
some danger, but was rescued by the courage of his guard and 
family ; one of his sons, Mien-ning, was designated as his suc- 
cessor for his bravery on this occasion. A fleet of about six 
hundred piratical junks, under Ching Yih and Chang Pau, in- 
fested the coasts of Kwangtung for several years, and were at 
last put down in 1810 by the provincial government taking 
advantage of internal dissensions between the leaders. The 
principal scene of the exploits of this fleet was the estuary of 
the Pearl River, whose numerous harbors and channels afforded 
shelter and escape to their vessels when pursued by the impe- 
rialists, while the towns upon the islands were plundered and 
the inhabitants killed if they resisted. The internal govern- 
ment of this audacious band was ascertained by two Englishmen, 
Mr. Turner and Mr. Glasspoole, who at different times fell into 
their hands and were obliged to accompany them in their ma- 
rauding expeditions. To so great a height did they proceed 
that the governor of Canton went to Macao to reside, and en- 
tered into some arrangements with the Portuguese for assistance 
in suppressing them. The piratical fleet was attacked and block- 
aded for ten days by the combined forces, but without much 
damage ; there was little prospect of overcoming them had not 
rivalry between the two leaders gone so far as to result in a 
severe engagement and loss on both sides. The conquered pi- 
rate soon after made his peace with the government, and the 
victor shortly afterward followed the same course. The story 
of those disturbed times to this day affords a frequent subject 
for the tales of old people in that region, and the same waters 
are still infested by the " foam of the sea,'' as the Chinese term 
these freebooters. 

The reign of Kiaking ended in 1820 ; by the Emperor's will 
his second son was appointed to succeed him, and took the style 
Taukwang. He exhibited more energy and justice than his 
father, and his efforts purified the administration by the per- 
sonal supervision taken of their leading members. His reign 
was marked by many local insurrections and disasters in one 
quarter or another of his vast dominions. A rebellion in Tur- 



50 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

kestan in 1828 was attended with great cruelty and treachery on 
the part of the Chinese, and its leader, Jehangir, was murdered, 
in violation of the most solemn promises. An insurrection in 
Formosa and a rising among the mountaineers of Kwangtung, 
in 1830-32, were put down more by money than by force, but 
as peace is both the end and evidence of good government in 
China, the authorities are not very particular how it is brought 
about. 

The rapid increase of opium-smoking among his people led 
to many efforts to restrain this vice by prohibitions, penalties, 
executions, and other means, but all in vain. The Emperor's 
earnestness was stimulated by the death of his three eldest sons 
from its use, and the falling off of the revenue by smuggling 
the pernicious drug. In 1837-38 the collective opinion of the 
highest officials was taken after hearing their arguments for 
legalizing its importation ; it was resolved to seize the dealers in 
it. The acts of Commissioner Lin resulted in the war with 
Great Britain and the opening of China to an extended inter- 
course with other nations. Defeated in his honest efforts to 
protect his people against their bane, the Emperor still fulfilled 
his treaty obligations, and died in 1850, just as the Tai-ping re- 
bellion broke out. 

His fourth son succeeded him under the style of Hienfung, 
but without his father's earnestness or vigor when the State 
required the highest qualities in its leader. The devastations 
of the rebels laid waste the southern half of the Empire, and 
their approach to Peking in 1853 was paralyzed by floods and 
want of supplies more than by the imperial troops. A second 
war with Great Britain, in 1858-60, completely broke down the 
seclusion of China, and at its conclusion an inglorious reign of 
eleven years ended at Jeh-ho in August, 1860. His only son 
succeeded to the throne at the age of Hve years, under the style 
of Tungehi ; the government being under the control of two 
Empress-regents and Prince Kung, his uncle. During his reign 
of twelve years the vigor of the new authorities succeeded in 
completely quelling the Tai-ping rebellion, destroying the Mo- 
hammedan rising in Yunnan and Kansuh, and opening up 
diplomatic intercourse with the Treaty Powers. Just as the 



TABLES OF MONARCHS AND DYNASTIES. 53 

years, and to each monarch an average of 17^ years. From ¥u 
wang's accession to Kwangsli is 2,997 years, giving an average 
of 125 years to a dynasty and 15 J to each sovereign. From the 
days of Menes in Egypt, b.c. 2719 to 331, Manetho reckons 31 
dynasties and 378 kings, which is about 77 years to each family 
and 6|- to each reign. In England the 34 sovereigns from 
William I. to Victoria (a.d. 1066 to 1837) averaged 22 f years 
each ; in Israel, the 23 kings from Saul to Zedekiah averaged 
22 years during a monarchy of 507 years. 



CHAPTER H. 

FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA. 

The most important notices which the research of authors had 
collected respecting the intercourse between China and the West, 
and the principal facts of interest of a political and commercial 
nature down to the year 1834, are carefully arranged in the first 
three chapters of Sir John Davis' work. 1 In truth, the terms 
intercourse and amoassies, so often used with reference to the 
nations of Eastern Asia, indicate a peculiar state of relations 
with them ; for while other courts send and receive resident 
ministers, those of China, Japan, Corea, and Cochinchina have 
until very recently kept themselves aloof from this national in- 
terchange of civilities, neither understanding its principles nor 
appreciating its advantages. Embassies have been sent by most 
European nations to the two first, which have tended rather to 
strengthen their assumptions of supremacy than to enlighten 
them as to the real objects and wishes of the courts proposing 
such courtesies. The commercial intercourse has, like the 
political, either been forced upon or begged of these govern- 
ments, constantly subject to those vexatious restrictions and in- 
terruptions which might be expected from such ill-defined ar- 
rangements ; and though mutually advantageous, has never 
been conducted on those principles of reciprocity and equality 
which characterize commerce at the West. As yet, the rulers 
and merchants of oriental nations are hardly well enough ac- 
quainted with their own and others' rights to be able or willing 

1 The Chinese, % Vols., Harper's Family Library, 1837. See also Murray's 
China, Vol. I., 1843. Montgomery Martin's China, passim, 1847. Memoires 
cone, les Chinois, Tome V. , pp. 1-23. T. W. Kingsmill in N. C. Br. M. A. 
Soc. Journal, N. S., No. XIV., 1879. 



ISOLATION AND SUSPICION OF THE CHINESE. 55 

to enter into close relations with European powers. Both magis- 
trates and people are ignorant and afraid of the resources, power, 
and designs of Christian nations, and consequently disinclined 
to admit them or their subjects to unrestrained intercourse. 
When western adventurers, as Pinto, Andrade, Weddell, and 
others came to the shores of China and Japan in the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries, they found the governments dis- 
posed to traffic, but the conquests subsequently made by 
Europeans in the neighboring regions of Luconia, Java, and 
India, and their cruel treatment of the natives, led these two 
powers to apprehend like results for themselves if they did not 
soon take precautionary measures of exclusion and restriction. 
^Nor can there be much doubt that this policy was the safest 
measure, in order to preserve their independence and maintain 
their authority over even their own subjects. Might made 
right more generally among nations then than it does now, and 
the belief entertained by most Europeans at that period, that 
all pagan lands belonged justly to the Pope, only wanted men 
and means to be everywhere carried into effect. Had the Chi- 
nese and Japanese governments allowed Portuguese, Spanish, 
French, and English colonists to settle and increase within their 
borders, they would, probably, long since have crumbled to 
pieces and their territories have been possessed by others. 

The data brought together by Davis in 1838 on this subject 
has since been enlarged and illustrated by Col. Yule in his 
admirable " Preliminary Essay " of 1866, prefixed to Cathay and 
the Way Thither, and by Bichthofen, the latter half of whose 
first volume on China is devoted to an exhaustive treatise upon 
the " Development of the Knowledge of China." 1 A digest 
of these elaborate works would be too long for our purpose here, 



1 China, Ergebnisse eigener Reisen und darauf gegrundeter Studien, Berlin, 
1877. This author's arrangement of the subject into " Periods " is as follows : 
I. — Legendary notices of intercourse before the year 1122 B.C. II. — From 
the accession of the Chaus to the building of the Great Wall (1122-212 B.C.). 
III.— From the building of the Great Wall to the accession of the Tangs (212 
B.C. -619 a.d.). IV.— From the Tangs to the Mongols (619-1205). V.— From 
the rise of the Mongol power to the arrival of the Portuguese in China (1205- 
1517). VI. — From the arrival of the Portuguese to the present time. 



56 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

where only the most interesting points can be noticed. The first 
recorded knowledge of China among the nations of the West 
does not date further back than the geographer Ptolemy, a.d. 150, 
who seems himself to have been indebted to the Tyrian author 
Marinus. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, however, refers 
to the same land under the name Glv, or Thin, at perhaps an 
earlier date. Previous to this time, moreover, accounts of the 
existence of the land of Confucius, and an appreciation and de- 
mand for the splendid silks made there, had reached Persia, 
judging from the legends found in its writers alluding to ancient 
wars and embassies with China, in which the country, the gov- 
ernment, people, and fabrics are invested with a halo of power 
and wealth which has not yet entirely vanished. These legends 
strengthen the conclusion that the Prophet Isaiah has the first 
mention now extant of the Flowery Land under the name Sinim. 
The interchange of the initial in China, Thina or Tina, and 
Sina ought to give no trouble in identifying the land, for such 
changes in pronunciation are still common in it ; e.g., Chau-chau 
fu into Tie-chiu hu. 

The Periplus of Arrian places the city of Thina perhaps as 
far east as Si-ngan, but too vaguely to be relied on ; that great city 
must certainly have then been known, however, among the traders 
of Central Asia, who probably were better acquainted with its 
geography than the authors who have survived them. Under 
the term Seres the Chinese are more clearly referred to at even 
an earlier date than Sina, and among the Latin writers it was 
about the only term used, its association with the silks brought 
thence keeping it before them. The two names were used for 
different regions, 1 the Seres being understood as lying to the 
north. Mela places them between the Indians and Scythians ; 
Ptolemy calls the country Serice and the capital Sera, but re- 
garded them as distinct from the Since, precisely as a Chinese 
geographer might confuse Britain and England. He says there 

1 The different appellations seem to have been employed according as it was 
regarded as the terminus of a southern sea route or a journey across the con- 
tinent. In the former aspect the name has nearly always been some form of 
Si?i, Chin, Sinse, China ; in the latter, to the ancients as the land of the Seres, 
to the middle ages as the Empire of GatMy.— Yule. 



EAELIEST NOTICES OF CHINA. 57 

was a long and dangerous land route leading to Sera through 
Persia to Bactria, over mountain defiles and perilous paths, 
which occupied the largest part of a year. Besides Ptolemy, 
there are notices by Pliny of the Seres, and these two authors 
furnished their successors with most of their knowledge down 
to the reign of Justinian. Col. Yule concisely summarizes the 
knowledge of China down to that date among the Romans : 
" The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touch- 
ing on the east the ocean and the limits of the habitable world ; 
and extending west nearly to Imaus and the confines of Bactria. 
The people are civilized men, of mild, just, and frugal temper ; 
eschewing collisions with their neighbors, and even shy of close 
intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of 
which raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk stuffs, 
furs, and iron of remarkable quality." He further explains how 
authors writing at Rome and Constantinople were quite unable 
to traverse and rectify what was said of the marts and nations 
spoken of in the farthest East, and place them with any precision. 
They were, in truth, in the same difficulty in coming to an ac- 
curate conclusion that the Chinese geographer Seu Ki-yu was 
when writing at Fuhchau in 1847 ; he could not explain the dis- 
crepancies he found between Rhodes and its colossus and Rhode 
Island in the United States. 

Among the marts mentioned in the various authors, Greek, 
Roman, and Persian, only a few can be identified with even fair 
probability. The " Stone Tower " of Ptolemy seems to have 
denoted Tashkend, a name of the same meaning, and a town 
still resorted to for trade. His port of Cattigara may have 
been a mart at the mouth of the Meinam, the Meikon, the Chu 
Kiang, or some other large stream in that region, where sea- 
faring people could exchange their wares with the natives, then 
quite independent of the Chinese in Shensi, who were known 
to him as Seres. Cattigara is more probably to be looked for 
near Canton, for its annals state that in the reign of Hwan ti 
(a.d. 147-168) " Tienchuh (India), Ta-tsin (Rome, Egypt or 
Arabia), and other nations came by the southern sea with 
tribute, and from this time trade was carried on at Canton with 
foreigners." During the same dynasty (the Eastern Han), 



58 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

foreigners came from Cantoo, Lu-hwang-chi, and other nations 
in the south. The nearest was about ten days' journey, and the 
farthest about five months'. 1 

On the land frontier, the Chinese annals of the Han dynasty 
record the efforts of Wu ti (b.c. 140-86) to open a communica- 
tion with the Yuehchi, or Getse, who had driven out the Greek 
rulers in Bactria and settled themselves north of the River Oxus, 
in order to get their help against his enemies the Huns. He 
sent an envoy, Chang Kiang, in 135, who was captured by the 
Huns and kept prisoner for ten years, when he escaped with 
some of his attendants and got to Ta-wan, or Ferghana, and 
thence reached the Yuehchi further south. He was unsuccess- 
ful in his mission, and attempted to return home through 
Tibet, but was re-taken by the Huns, and did not succeed in 
reporting himself at Chang-an till thirteen years had elapsed. 
The introduction of the vine into China is rather doubtfully 
ascribed to this brave envoy. 

De Guignes concludes that this notice about trade at Canton 
refers to the embassy sent in a.d. 166 by the Emperor Marcus 
Aurelius (whom the Chinese call An-tun), which entered China 
by the south at Tongking, or Canton. The Latin author Florae, 
who lived in Trajan's reign, about fifty years before, has a pas- 
sage showing, as proof of the universal awe and veneration in 
which the power of Rome was held under Augustus, that am- 
bassadors from the remotest nations, the Seres and the Indians, 
came with presents of elephants, gems, and pearls — a rhetorical 
exaggeration quite on a par with the Chinese account of the 
tribute sent from An-tun, and not so well authenticated. 
Whether, indeed, the Ta-tsin kwoh mentioned by Chinese writ- 
ers meant Judea, Rome, or Persia, cannot now be exactly as- 
certained, though Yule concludes that this name almost cer- 
tainly means the Roman Empire, otherwise called the Kingdom 
of the Western Sea. The title was given to these regions be- 
cause of the analogy of its people to those of the Middle King- 



1 Chinese Repository, I. , p. 365. Heeren, Asiatic Researches, II. , pp. 285-295. 
Murray's China, I., p. 141. Yule's Cathay, Vol. I., pp. xli-xlv. Smith, 
Classical Dictionary, Art. Seres. 



INTERCOUKSE BETWEEN ROME AND CHINA. 59 

dom. 1 The envoys sent to that country reported that " beyond 
the territory of the Tau-shi (perhaps the Persians) there was 
a great sea, by which, sailing due west, one might arrive at the 
country where the sun sets." Like most attempts of the kind 
in subsequent days, the mission of Antoninus appears to have 
been a failure, and to have returned without accomplishing 
any practical benefit to intercourse or trade between the two 
greatest empires in the world. It was received, no doubt, at 
Lohyang, then the capital, with ostentatious show and patroniz- 
ing kindness, and its occurrence inscribed in the national records 
as another evidence of the glory and fame of the Son of 
Heaven. That a direct trade between Rome and China did 
not result at this period may have been largely due to the 
jealousy of the Parthian merchants, who reaped great profits 
as middle-men in the traffic, and disposed of their own woven 
and colored stuffs to the Romans, all of which gain they knew 
would have passed over their heads had the extreme East and 
West come into more intimate relations. 

It is worthy of observation how, even from the earliest times, 
the traffic in the rich natural and artificial productions of India 
and China has been the great stimulus to urge adventurers to 
come from Europe, who on their part offered little in exchange 
besides precious metals. The Serica vestis, whether it was a 
silken or cotton fabric, and other rarities found in those regions, 
bore such a high price at Eome as to tempt the merchants to 
undertake the longest journeys and undergo the greatest hard- 
ships to procure them ; and such was the case likewise during 
the long period before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. 
The existence of this trade early enabled the Nestorian mission- 
aries to penetrate into those remote regions, and keep up a 
communication with their patrons at home ; the more extended 

1 Cathay and the Way Thither, p. lvi. Klaproth, Tableaux Historiques de 
VAsie (Paris, 1826), p. 68. So Riclitliofen {China, Bd. I., p. 470), who adds : " It 
is accepted now, by almost all those who have written on the subject, that the 
Chinese by Ta-tsin meant to denote 'Great-China,' and through this, on the 
other hand, we have a proof that the Chinese called their own country Tsin. 
It will hardly do, however, to suppose that so prejudiced a people as they 
would recognize another folk as greater. The appellation Ta (great) is given 
to every nation whose power the Chinese feel to be considerable." 



60 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

voyages of modern commerce likewise assist benevolent per- 
sons in reaching the remotest tribes and carrying on their labors, 
through their patrons on the other side of the world, probably 
with less danger and delay than a mission at Cadiz could have 
been directed from Jerusalem in the days of the apostles. 

The notices in Cosmas (a Greek monk who had been a mer- 
chant, and wrote his " Universal Christian Topography" be- 
tween 530 and 550 a.d.) of China and its products refer to the 
maritime trade under the Byza'ntine emperors. This country 
he locates very correctly as occupying the extreme east of Asia, 
and calls Tzinista, a name probably picked up from the Per- 
sians or old Hindus, and nearly similar to the Tzinisthan of the 
tablet at Si-ngan. Another Greek, Theophylact, in the next 
century describes the internal intercourse in Central Asia, and 
a great Turkish people, the Taugas, whom he was unaware were 
the Chinese. It may be that he miswrote Tang in a grecized form 
for the dynasty just about that time settling its power. The 
indirect commerce between China and the Greek Empire in- 
creased by sea and land until the rise of the Moslem power. 
The same indifference on the part of the Chinese respecting 
the power, resources, and position of other lands is seen through 
all their notices of those western kingdoms. The products car- 
ried west were silk in various forms, but the demand for this 
article diminished after the worms had been successfully taken 
to Greece about a.d. 550. Cotton fabrics, medicines, and spices 
went westward as well as silk, but it is impossible to dis- 
tinguish the trade with China from that with India. The leaf 
called malabathrum in the Periplus was not a Chinese plant, 
but the tamalapatra, a kind of cassia (Cimiamomum nitidum, 
whose leaves were purchased in Pome for three hundred denarii 
per pound), and now called Malabar leaf ; it was probably mixed 
or confounded with the Indian nard and with camphor. The 
people called Sesatce in the Periplus are probably to be looked 
for in Assam or Sikkim, where wild cassia grows, and where 
the real tea plant is native ; but neither tea nor betel-leaf can 
be regarded as the ancient malabathrum. 1 

■Heeren's Asiatic Researches, II., p. 294; Yule's Cathay, pp. xlvi, cxliv. 



COMMUNICATION WITH THE GREEK EMPIRE. 61 

"Within the last few years the translations of the travels of 
Buddhist pilgrims between China and India have furnished 
more satisfactory details of the peoples inhabiting the central 
and western parts of Asia than all the Greek and Latin authors. 
Those of Fahian (399-414), of Hiuen-tsang (628-645), and of 
Hwui-sing (518), are the most extensive. Further researches into 
conventual libraries in China and Tibet are encouraged by 
what has been found on their shelves, and from them enough 
has already been gained to reward the labor. Of greater worth 
than these, perhaps, are the official histories of the Han, Tsin, 
and Tang dynasties, reaching from b.c. 200 to a.d. 900, only 
portions of which have yet been made accessible in full. Their 
trivial ties are so numerous that their entire translation into Eng- 
lish would hardly repay the printing, as the experiment by 
Mailla, in 1785, of the Tang Kien Kang-muh, in thirteen volumes 
quarto, shows. These histories, on the whole, supply more ac- 
curate information about Syria, Persia, Greece, and Parthia, 
than the writers of those countries give about China; — for 
example, the notices of Tulin, or Constantinople, are more 
minute than any account of Chang-an in western writers. But 
as Yule well remarks, there is much analogy between the frag- 
mentary views each party had, the same uncertainty as to exact 
position, and the same application of facts belonging to the 
nearer skirts of a half -seen empire to the whole land. It can 
well be paralleled by reading some of our own travellers who 
applied all that they saw and heard at Canton to the Eighteen 
Provinces. Only a few embassies from Ta-tsin and Fulin are 
enumerated by Pauthier in his Chine as coming down to the year 
1091 ; but the tractate by Dr. E. Bretschneider, of the Kussian 
Legation at Peking, 1 shows how constant were the visits of the 
Arabs down to the Sung (a.d. 1086), and especially during the 
Tang dynasty. During the Tsin and Wei dynasties the visits 
of envoys from Ceylon were frequent, all of them an outgrowth 
of Buddhism, but repaid in more ways than one by the trade 
and its results — as shown by Sir E. Tennent in his History of 
Ceylon. In 1266 the King of Ceylon had Chinese soldiers in 

1 On the Knowledge of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies possessed by the 
Ancient Chinese, London, 1871. 



62 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Ills service, and envoys came to him to buy Buddha's sacred 
alms-dish. In 1405 the Emperor Yungloh of the Ming dynasty, 
taking umbrage at the indignities offered to his representative 
by Wijayabahu IV., despatched Ching Ho with a fleet of sixty- 
two ships and a land force to cruise along the coasts of Cam- 
bodia, Siam, and other places, demanding tribute and con- 
ferring gifts as the successor of the throne held by the great 
Kublai. Going again the next year as far as Ceylon, Ching 
Ho evaded a snare set by the king, and captured him and his 
whole family and officials, carrying them all to Peking. In 
1411 the latter were set free, but a new king was appointed 
to the vacant throne, who reigned fifty years and sent tribute 
till 1459 ; this was only thirty-eight years before Gama ar- 
rived at Calicut. It was the last attempt of the Chinese to 
assert their sway beyond the limits of the Middle Kingdom 
seaward. 1 

One intimation of a continuance of the intercourse with China 
from the time of Justinian to that of the Arab travellers ¥a- 
hab and Abu Zaid, is the Nestorian inscription (page 277). The 
narratives of the Arabs (a.d. 850 and 877) are trustworthy in 
their general statements as to the course pursued in the voyage, 
the port to which they sailed in China, the customs of the 
people there, and the nature and mode of conducting the trade ; 
they form, in fact, the first authentic accounts we have of the 
Chinese from western writers, and make us doubt a little whether 
others like them have not been lost, rather than suppose that 
such were never written. These interesting relics were trans- 
lated by Reinaud in 1845, with the text and notes. 2 The second 
traveller speaks of the sack of the city of Canfu, then the port 
of all the Arabian merchants, in which one hundred and twenty 
thousand Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and Magians, or 
Parsees, engaged in traffic, were destroyed. This shows the 
extent and value of the trade. Canfu was Ivanpu, a fine port 
near the modern town of the same name, twenty-five miles from 
Hangchau, and near Chapu on the Bay of Hangchau ; the 

ferment's Ceylon, I., pp. 607-626. Yule's Cathay, pp. lxvi-lxxvi. 
2 Relation des Voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans VInde et d la 
Chine dans le IX me Sikle de Vh rt Chretienne, 2 Vols. , Paris, 1845. 



NOTICES OF ARAB TEAVELLEES. 63 

Gates of China were probably in the Clmsan Archipelago and 
its numerous channels. Much of the statement made by Abu 
Zaid respecting the wealth, extent, and splendor of Canf u really 
refers to the city of Hangchau. The bore in the Tsientang 
River makes it impossible for ships to lie off that place, and 
this had its effect in developing Kanpu. The destruction of the 
capital in 877 contributed to direct part of the trade to Canton, 
which even then and long after was comparatively a small 
place, and the people of that part of the country but little re- 
moved from gross barbarism. In Marco Polo's time Ganpu 
was frequented by all the ships that bring merchandise from 
India. 1 

Prior to the date when he reached the confines of the Pacific, 
the ravages of the Mongols, under Genghis and his successors, in 
the regions between the Mediterranean and Caspian, and their 
great victory near Lignitz, April 12, 1241, had aroused the fears 
of the Pope and other potentates for their own safety. After 
the sudden recall of the hosts of Okkodai, in the same year, at 
his death, and their retreat from Bohemia and Poland to the 
Dneiper, the Pope determined to send two missions to the Tar- 
tars to urge them to greater humanity. One was a Franciscan 
monk, John of Piano Carpini, who carried the following letter 
to Batu khan on the Wolga : 

INNOCENT, BISHOP, SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD, TO THE 
KING AND PEOPLE OF THE TARTARS. 

Since not only men, but also irrational animals, and even the mechanical 
mundane elements, are united by some kind of alliance, after the example of 
superior spirits, whose hosts the Author of the universe has established in a 
perpetual and peaceful order, we are compelled to wonder, not without reason, 
how you, as we have heard, having entered many lands of Christians and 
others, have wasted them with horrible desolation, and still, with continued 
fury, not ceasing to extend further your destroying hands, dissolving every 
natural tie, neither sparing sex nor age, direct indifferently against all the fury 
of the sword. We therefore, after the example of the Prince of Peace, desir- 
ing to unite all mankind in unity and the fear of God, warn, beseech, and ex- 
hort you henceforth to desist wholly from such outrages, and especially from 



1 Chinese Repository, Vol. I., pp. 6, 42, 252; Vol. III., p. 115. Yule's Marco 
Polo, Vol. II., pp. 149, 156. Cathay, p. cxciii. 



64 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

the persecution of Christians ; and since, by so many and so great offences, yon 
have doubtless grievously provoked the wrath of the Divine majesty, that you 
make satisfaction to him by suitable penitence ; and that you be not so daring 
as to carry your rage further, because the omnipotent God has hitherto per- 
mitted the nations to be laid prostrate before your face. He sometimes thus 
passes by the proud men of the age ; but if they do not humble themselves, 
he will not fail to inflict the severest temporal punishment on their guilt. 
And now, behold, we send our beloved brother John, and his companions, 
bearers of these presents, men conspicuous for religion and honesty, and en- 
dued with a knowledge of sacred Scripture, whom we hope you will kindly 
receive and honorably treat as if they were ourselves, placing confidence in 
what they may say from us, and specially treat with them on what relates to 
peace, and fully intimate what has moved you to this extermination of other 
nations, and what you further intend, providing them in going and returning 
with a safe conductor, and other things needful for returning to our presence. 
We have chosen to send to you the said friars, on account of their exemplary 
conduct and knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, and because they would 
be more useful to you as imitating the humility of our Saviour, and if we had 
thought they would be more grateful and useful to you, we would have sent 
other prelates or powerful men. ] 

M. D'Avezac's essay contains a full account of the travels 
and proceedings of Carpini and his companion, Benedict, in 
their hazardous journey of a hundred days from Kiev, across 
the plains of Russia and Bokhara, to the court of Ivuyuk, who 
had succeeded Okkodai. They were first sent forward by the 
commanding officers of the several posts to Batu's camp, where 
the Pope's letter was translated ; from hence they were again 
despatched at the most rapid rate, on horseback, to Kara-korum, 
where they arrived July 22, 1246, almost exhausted. After 
they had been there a few days the election was decided, and 
all ambassadors were introduced to an audience to the khan, 
when the Pope's envoys alone were without a present. The 
letter was read, and an answer returned in a few weeks in the 
same style. These two potentates, so singularly introduced to 
each other in their mutual ignorance by the letters carried by 
John, had much more in common in their pretensions to uni- 
versal dominion by the command of God than they suspected. 
The khan's letter was as follows : 



1 Murray's Marco Polo, p. 49. Yule's Cat7iay, p. cxxiii ff. D'Avezac's essay 
in the Becuetl de Voyages, IV. , p. 399. 



MISSION OF THE POPE TO BATU KHAN. 65 

LETTER OF THE KING OF THE TARTARS TO THE LORD POPE. 

The strength of God, Kuyuk khan, the ruler of all men, to the great Pope. 
You and all the Christian people who dwell in the West have sent by your 
messengers sure and certain letters for the purpose of making peace with us. 
This we have heard from them, and it is contained in your letter. Therefore, 
if you desire to have peace with us, you Pope, emperors, all kings, all men 
powerful in cities, by no means delay to come to us for the purpose of con 
eluding peace, and you will hear our answer and our will. The series of your 
letters contained that we ought to be baptized and to become Christians ; we 
briefly reply, that we do not understand why we ought to do so. As to what 
is mentioned in your letters, that you wonder at the slaughter of men, and 
chiefly of Christians, especially Hungarians, Poles, and Moravians, we shortly 
answer, that this too we do not understand. Nevertheless, lest we should 
seem to pass it over in silence, we think proper to reply as follows : It is be- 
cause they have not obeyed the precept of God and of Genghis khan, and, 
holding bad counsel, have slain our messengers ; 1 wherefore God has ordered 
them to be destroyed, and delivered them into our hands, But if God had 
not done it, what could man have done to man ? But you, inhabitants of the 
West, believe that you only are Christians, and despise others ; but how do 
you know on whom he may choose to bestow his favor ? We adore God, and, 
in his strength, will overwhelm the whole earth from the east to the west. 
But if we men were not strengthened by God, what could we do ? 2 

The khan took the precaution, which the Pope did not, of 
putting his reply into an intelligible language, and when it was 
written in Tartar he had it carefully explained to the friars, 
who translated it into Latin, and were soon after dismissed. 
They left the court on November 13, 1246, and " travelled all 
winter through a wide open country, being commonly obliged 
to sleep on the ground after clearing away the snow, with 
which in the morning they often found themselves covered." 
They reached Kiev the next June, and Carpini was rewarded 
for his hardships by being appointed Archbishop of Antivari 
in Dalmatia. As Yule remarks, " they were the first to bring 
to western Europe the revived knowledge of a great and civ- 
ilized nation lying in the extreme East upon the shores of the 
ocean." 

Louis XL of France having heard that Sartach, the son 
of Batu, then commanding on the western frontier, was a Chris- 

1 Allusion is here made to Tartar ambassadors, whom the Prussians murdered 
before the battle of Kalka. 

2 Murray's Marco Polo, p. 59. 



66 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

tian, sent a mission to him, consisting of the friar William 
Rubruquis l and three companions. They left Constantinople 
May 7, 1253, and proceeded to the Crimea, from whence they 
set out with a present of wines, fruits, and biscuits intended for 
the khan. In three days they met the Tartars, wdio conducted 
them first to Scacatai, a chieftain by whom, after considerable 
delay and vexation, they were furnished w r ith everything neces- 
sary for a journey across the plains of southern Russia to the 
Wolga and the camp of Sartach. The monks attempted to 
convert the rude nomads, but ignorance of the language and 
suspicions of their intentions interposed great obstacles on 
both sides. On arriving at the end of their journey, they w T ere 
disappointed at finding the ruler of these warriors a besotted 
infidel, who expected all persons admitted into his presence to 
bring him costly presents. A Nestorian named Cojat, whom 
Rubruquis regarded as no better than a heretic, was high in 
authority, and the only medium of communication with the 
khan. He told the friar to bring his books and vestments 
and make himself ready to appear before the khan on the 
morrow ; their elegance was such that at the close of the audi- 
euce Cojat seized most of them under an idle pretext that it 
was improper to appear in them a second time before Batu 
khan, to whom Rubruquis and his companions were to be sent. 
Their journey was soon after prosecuted by following up the 
Wolga some distance, and when they arrived at the encampment 
of Batu khan, he made many inquiries about the resources and 
power of the French king and the war he was waging with the 
Saracens. On his introduction, " the friar bent one knee, but 
finding this unsatisfactory did not choose to contend, and drop- 
ped on both. Misled by his position, instead of answering ques- 
tions he began a prayer for the conversion of the khan, with 
warning of the dreadful consequences of unbelief. The prince 
merely smiled ; but the derision which was loudly expressed by 
the surrounding chiefs threw him into a good deal of confusion." 
The interview was followed by an order to proceed to the court 

1 Or, more correctly, Rubruk, as D'Avezac lias pointed out (Bull, de la Soc. 
de Geogr., 1868), and in whose conclusions Yule joins (Marco Polo, second 
edition, p. 536). 



EMBASSY OF EUBEUQUIS TO MANGU KHAN. 67 

of Manga, who had succeeded Kuyuk as Grand khan. This 
long journey occupied four months, through the high land 
of Central Asia (farther eastward than where Carpini found 
Kuyuk's court), and subjected them to severe hardships. Mangu 
received the mission hardly with civility, but having been ex- 
amined by some Nestorian priests, they were admitted to an 
audience. The same ceremonies were required as at Batu's court, 
and inquiries made as to the possessions of the French king, es- 
pecially the number of rams, horses, and oxen he owned, which, 
the friar was amazed to learn, were soon to be attacked by the 
Tartars. No permission to remain could be obtained, but he 
was furnished with a house and allowed to tarry till the cold 
mitigated. In this remote region he found a European archi- 
tect, William Eourchier, and his wife, from Mentz, besides many 
Armenians, Saracens, and Nestorians, all of whom the khan re- 
ceived. He accompanied the court to Kara-korum, where he 
nearly became involved in dangerous religious disputes, and on 
the approach of milder weather was compelled to return to 
Eatu khan, by whom he was sent on, in a south-westerly direc- 
tion, until he entered Armenia, and thence found his way to 
Iconium, having been absent nearly two years. 

These ambassadors had not the aid of printing to diffuse their 
narratives, and it was perhaps chiefly owing to the high standing 
of those who sent them that their relations have been preserved. 
In the case of many travellers of humbler origin or pretensions, 
there was no inducement to write what they had seen ; these 
therefore only told their stories, which were lost with the narra- 
tors. Even the travels of Marco Polo would perhaps never have 
been given to the world if the leisure of captivity had not in- 
duced him to adopt this method of relieving its tedium. Every 
examination of his record has added to its reputation for accu- 
racy, both in the position of the cities he mentions or visited and 
in the events he details ; and when it is considered that he dic- 
tated it several years after his return to a fellow-prisoner, Eus- 
ticiano of Pisa, who wrote it in French, his accuracy is wonder- 
ful. The edition by Marsden in 1818 remained for fifty years 
the chief authority, but the recent editions by Pauthier and 
Yule, with their full notes, have made the traveller's record vastly 



68 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

better understood, while adding much to our knowledge of 
mediaeval Asia. 

Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, was the son of Nicolo Polo, 
who with his brother Matteo, nobles and merchants of Venice, 
first left that city about 1254, and Constantinople in 1260, 
on a mercantile voyage to the Crimea, from which point a 
series of events led them eastward as far as China, then lately 
conquered by Kublai, the Grand Khan and successor of Mangu 
khan, whom Rubruquis visited. They were favorably received, 
and when they left Kublai it w r as under a promise to return, 
which they did about December, 1274, bearing letters from 
Gregory X., and accompanied by young Marco, then about six- 
teen years old. He soon became a favorite with the Emperor, 
and was able to travel to many parts of the country, spending in 
all about twenty-one years in the East ; the three Polos reached 
Venice again in 1295. Marco was prefect at Yangchau on the 
Grand Canal for three years, and this involves a knowledge of 
Mongolian and Chinese speech and writing, without which he 
could hardly have administered its official duties. His posses- 
sion of these accomplishments was nearly indispensable to the 
post, though Col. Yule infers, from an easily explained mistake 
in Chapter LXXV., that he did not have them. On reaching 
Venice, by way of India and Persia, the long-lost travellers ap- 
peared so completely altered that their friends and countrymen 
did not recognize them. Their wealth and entertaining recitals, 
however, soon restored them to the highest ranks of society. 
The industry of recent editors has probably brought together all 
that can be learned of their subsequent history, which is now so 
well known as to require no further words here. 

In the year 1254, Hethum, or Hayton, king of Little Ar- 
menia, undertook a journey to Mangu khan, to petition for an 
abatement of the tribute which he had been obliged to pay the 
Mongols. Having first sent forth his brother, Sempad, or 
Sinibald (in 1246), to Kuyuk khan, Hayton himself set out upon 
the accession to the throne of his successor. Passing through 
Kars and Armenia Proper to the Wolga, he was there received 
by Batu and forwarded by a route to the north of that traversed 
by Carpini to Kara-korum and the Grand khan. At the end 



NAKRATIVES OF POLO AKD OF KING HAYTON. b9 

of a six weeks' sojourn with the court, during which time he 
appears to have been kindly received, Hayton commenced his 
homeward journey via Bishbalig and Songaria to Samarkand, 
Bokhara, Khorasan, and thence to Tabriz. The accounts of 
these two embassies, wherein are described many wonderful 
things concerning the heathens of the East and barbarians upon 
the route, made up, doubtless, a large part of the " History '' 
(written in 1307) by the king's relative, Hayton of Gorigos. 1 
The different positions held by these men and the Polos natur- 
ally led each of them to look upon the same people and events 
with vastly different feelings. The efforts of John of Monte- 
corvino to propagate Christianity in China were undertaken 
just as the Polos returned, but no detailed accounts of his labors 
(beyond what Col. Yule has gathered in his Cathay) have been 
preserved. 

Among the most important mediaeval travellers in Asia was 
the Moor, Ibn Eatuta, who at the age of twenty- one set out 
(in 1325) upon his journeys, from which he did not return until 
thirty years later. 2 Abu-Abdullah Mahomed (nicknamed Ibn 
Batuta, "The Traveller") commenced his wanderings, which 
were contemporaneous with those of the more doubtful English- 
man, Sir John Mandeville, by a series of pilgrimages to the 
sacred places of his religion ; among other excursions, he found 
time at one period to continue three years in Mecca. Going 
from one city to another, along the shores of the Mediterranean, 
and in the countries between it and the Caspian, he at length 
reached Delhi, where he resided eight years, enjoying — until 
the latter end of his stay — high favor from the Sultan Maho- 
med. The versatile Moor occupied the position of judge, though 
there is good reason to doubt his serious attention to any busi- 
ness while at this magnificent court, other than that of spending 
his master's money. In the spring of 1342, having recovered 

1 The chapter concerning Cathay appears in Yule's Cathay, p. cxcv. A 
translation of the elder Hayton's narrative is given hy Klaproth in the Journal 
Asiatique, II e Series, Tome XII. , pp. 273 ff. 

2 His work has been very ably edited and translated into French by M. De- 
fremery and Dr. Sanguinetti (four volumes, Paris, 1858-59), under the 
patronage of the Asiatic Society of Paris. Several partial translations of the 
journal have appeared from time to time within the present century. 



I 



70 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

from a temporary disgrace, he was despatched on an ambassy to 
China by the Sultan. It seems that a Chinese envoy had ar- 
rived at Delhi to request permission for the natives to rebuild 
a temple in Butan, as they were poor and dependent upon the 
inhabitants of the plain, and had besought the Chinese govern- 
ment to intercede for them. Ibn Batuta was sent with lavish 
presents to the Emperor, but a refusal to assist in the building 
project unless that sovereign would go through the form of 
paying a poll-tax to the Saltan. This embassy was attacked by 
a body of Hindus when scarcely out of Delhi, and obliged to 
return. Again it was sent out, going to Calicut on the Malabar 
coast, where were found fifteen Chinese vessels or galleys at 
anchor, whose crews and guard amounted to a thousand men 
each. The envoy embarked his attendants on one of these 
ships, but while he remained on shore to pray for a prosperous 
voyage, a storm sunk the vessel and all on board. After this 
second mishap the luckless Moor was afraid to return to his 
master, and went to Sumatra, from whence he found his way 
to China, landing at Zayton, the present Chinchew, in Fuhkien. 

Though it is doubtful if Ibn Batuta, notwithstanding his de- 
scription of the place, ever reached Peking, his spirited accounts 
of Zayton, Sinkalan (Canton), Khansa (Hangchau), Kanjanfu, 
and other centres of trade in the south, are both entertain- 
ing and important. Spite of exaggerations, confusion of names 
and dates, and certain cases of positive fiction, one can hardly 
fail to put faith in the generality of his statements and conclude 
in favor of his veracity and genuine character. He mentions 
that the circulation of paper money, which Marco Polo thought 
so excellent a device for a king to raise funds, had entirely 
driven out the use of metallic currency. In every large town 
he found Mohammedans, ruled by officers of their own per- 
suasion. 

The journal of Friar Odoric (1286-1331) contains much of 
interest in connection with China of the middle ages. This 
worthy priest landed at " Censcalan " (Canton), after a long and 
tedious trip from Bagdad round by Sumatra and thence north- 
east by land to Zayton. Here, says he, " we friars minor have 
two houses, and there I deposited the bones of our friars who 



TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA AND FRIAR ODORIC. 71 

suffered martyrdom for the faith of Jesus Christ." He had 
brought these relics from Tana, near Bombay. Thence he jour- 
neyed to Fuhchau, Hangchau, and Nanking, going on north- 
ward to Peking, where the aged archbishop, Cor vino, was still 
living, and remained there three years. His return journey as 
far as H'lassa was not very different from that of Hue and 
Gabet in 1843 ; from the Tibetan capital he probably continued 
on a westerly course to Cabul and Tabriz, reaching Venice in 
1330, after an absence of thirteen years. His itinerary was 
taken down the following year by William of Solagna, a brother 
of the order, at Padua. 

In this narrative there is mention of a number of characteris- 
tics of the Chinese, well known to all the world of to-day, but 
left wholly unnoticed by other travellers of his age. "His 
notices of the custom of fishing with cormorants, of the habits 
of letting the finger-nails grow long, and of compressing the 
women's feet, as well as of the divisions of the khan's Empire 
into twelve provinces, with four chief vizirs, are peculiar to 
him, I believe, among all the European travellers of the age. 
Polo mentions none of them. The names which he assigns to 
the Chinese post-stations, and to the provincial Boards of Ad- 
ministration, the technical Turki term which he uses for a sack 
of rice, etc., are all tokens of the reality of his experience." ' 
On the other hand, the influence of superstition upon their own 
minds rendered most of the religious travellers into Central 
Asia — Odoric as well as the others — less trustworthy and ob- 
servant than they would perhaps have been either centuries 
before or after that period. Everything of a religious sort they 
regarded as done under the direct agency of the powers of dark- 
ness, into whose dominions they were venturing. Too fearful, 
moreover, to examine candidly or record accurately what they 
beheld, these pious adventurers were constantly misled by en- 
deavors to explain any uncommon experience by referring the 
same to their own imperfect or erroneous conceptions. This 
is true as well of the Romish priests connected with the Peking 
mission, a few of whose letters have been preserved and re- 

1 Yule, Cathay and the Way Tlrither, p. 21. 



72 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

cently made known to the public by Col. Yule ; among these 
are Friar Jordanus, Bishop Andrew of Zayton, Pascal of Vit- 
toria, together with the Archbishop of Soltania, author of the 
" Book of the Estate and Governance of the Great Caan of 
Cathay." 1 

But much fairer than these missionaries, in his reputation 
for veracity, was the Jesuit Benedict Goes, who in the cen- 
tury preceding what may be termed the modern period of our 
knowledge of China, undertook a journey across the desert, 
to die on the threshold of the Empire. Born in one of the 
islands of the Azore group, Goes spent his youth in the profes- 
sion of a soldier on board of the Portuguese fleet. Becoming 
suddenly converted, he entered the service of the Jesuits as a 
lay brother — which humble rank he resolutely held during the 
rest of his career — and was sent to the court of Akbar. His 
residence in India gained him a high reputation for courage, 
judgment, and skill in the Persian tongue, the lingua franca 
of Asia at that date. He was selected, therefore, to undertake 
a journey to the Cathay of Marco Polo, in the capital of which 
Jerome Xavier thought he had hopes of finding the Christian 
ruler and descendant of Prester John. Goes set out from 
Agra in 1602, joined a company of merchants, and with them 
took a route passing through Cabul, the Hindu kush, along 
the River Oxus to its head-waters on the Pamir table-land, 
and so to Yangi Hissar, Yarkand, Aksu, and Suh-chau, where 
he was detained seventeen months, and finally died, shortly 
after assistance had been sent him from the mission at Pe- 
king. 

His journey was full of terrible hardships, and it was to 
these as well as to the careless treatment he suffered in Suh- 
chau that he owed his untimely end. Could we have Goes' 
own narrative of his experience, the information concerning 
the unknown regions of Central Asia over which he toiled 
would be of priceless worth. His journals, however, were 
either lost or destroyed during his miserable detention at the 
frontier town, and nothing remained save a few meagre notes 

1 About 1330. See ibid., pp. 238-250. 



JOURNEY OF BENEDICT GOES. 73 

and his faithful Armenian servant Isaac, whose language no one 
at Peking could understand. Such as it was, an account was 
compiled from these sources by Ricci himself, and published 
soon after that missionary's death in the work of Trigautius, 
De Christiana Exjpeditione apud Sinas. 1 To Benedict Goes 
we may give the credit of the discovery that Cathay and China 
(Sina) were in reality one and the same land. It is a curious 
illustration of the condition of intercommunication between 
distant parts of the world in those days, that this fact must 
have been known to the earliest Jesuit missionaries in Peking, 
though the friars of the same order stationed in India held to 
a belief in Cambaluc and its Christian prince until far into the 
seventeenth century. 

In many particulars the practical descriptions of Abu Zaid, 
Masudi, 2 Ibn Wahab, and Marco Polo stand in decided contrast 
to the details noted down by such as Rubruquis and Odoric. 
The accounts of all these writers convey the impression that 
China was in their time free to all travellers. Ibn Wahab, 
speaking of the regulations practised under the Tang dynasty, 
observes : 

If a man would travel from one province to another, he must take two 
passes with him, one from the governor, the other from the eunuch [or lieu- 
tenant]. The governor's pass permits him to set out on his journey and con- 
tains the names of the traveller and those also of his company, also the ages 
of the one and the other and the clan to which he belongs. For every travel- 
ler in China, whether a native or an Arab, or other foreigner, cannot avoid 
carrying a paper with him containing everything by which he can be verified. 
The eunuch's pass specifies the quantities of money or goods which the travel- 
ler and those with him take along ; this is done for the information of officers 
at the frontier places where these two passes are examined. Whenever a 
traveller arrives at any of them, it is registered that ' ' Such a one, son of such 
a one, of such a calling, passed here on such a day, month, and year, having 

1 A translation of this notice appears in Col. Yule's oft-quoted Cathay and 
the Way Thither, pp. 529-591. Trigautius' work appeared in 1615, and was 
subsequently translated into all the continental languages. Compare Purchas, 
His Pilgrimes, Vol. III., pp. 380, ff.— -A Discourse of the Kingdome of China, 
taken out of Biccivs and Trigavtivs, contayning the Countrey, People, Goutrn- 
ment, etc., etc. 

2 Reinaud, Relation des Voyages, etc. MM. Barbier de Meynard and Tavet 
de Courteille, Les Praries d'Or, Paris, 1861-66. 



74 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

such things with him." The government resorts to this means to prevent dan- 
ger to travellers in their money or goods ; for should one suffer loss or die, 
everything about him is immediately known and he himself or his heirs after 
his death receive whatever is his. l 

The same writer speaks of the Mabed, a nation dwelling in 
Yunnan, on the south-west, who sent ambassadors every year 
with presents to the Emperor ; and in return he sent presents 
annually to them. These embassies, indeed, were simply trad- 
ing companies in disguise, who came from the Persians, Arabs, 
and other nations, with every protestation of respect and hu- 
mility, bearing presents to the Son of Heaven. The dignity 
of the Emperor demanded that these should be returned with 
gifts three or four times the value of this " tribute," and that 
the ambassadors should be royally entertained during their so- 
journ at the capital. It is needless to add that such missions 
were repeated by the merchants as often as circumstances 
would permit. Entrance into the country overland otherwise 
than by some such ruse seems to have been withheld after the 
fall of the Mongol dynasty. 

It was, however, not until the subjugation of the Empire by 
the Manchus that foreign trade was limited to Canton, the 
jealous conduct of the present rulers being to a certain extent 
actuated by a fear of similar reprisals from some quarter, which 
the Mongols experienced. The outrageous behavior of foreign 
traders themselves must, moreover, be regarded as a chief 
cause of the watchful seclusion with which they were treated. 
" Their early conduct," says Sir John Davis, referring to the 
Portuguese, " was not calculated to impress the Chinese with 
any favorable idea of Europeans ; and when in course of rime 
they came to be competitors with the Dutch and the Eng- 
lish, the contests of mercantile avarice tended to place them 
all in a still worse point of view. To this day the character of 
the Europeans is represented as that of a race of men intent 
alone on the gains of commercial traffic, and regardless alto- 
gether of the means of attainment. Struck by the perpetual 
hostilities which existed among these foreign adventurers, as- 

9 Reinaud, Relation, Tome I., p. 41. 



THE EMPIRE CLOSED TO FOREIGNERS. 75 

siinilated in other respects by a close resemblance in their 
costumes and manners, the government of the country became 
disposed to treat them with a degree of jealousy and exclusion 
which it had not deemed necessary to be exercised toward the 
more peaceable and well ordered Arabs, their predecessors." J 

These characteristics of avarice, lawlessness, and power have 
been the leading traits in the Chinese estimate of foreigners 
from their first acquaintance with them, and the latter have 
done little to effectually disabuse orientals upon these points. 
The following record of their first arrival, taken from a Chi- 
nese work, is still good authority in the general opinion of the 
natives : 

During the reign of Chingtih [1506], foreigners from the West, called Fah- 
lan-ki [Franks], who said that they had tribute, abruptly entered the Bogue, 
and by their tremendously loud guns, shook the place far and near. This was 
reported at court, and an order returned to drive them away immediately and 
stop their trade. At about this time also the Hollanders, who in ancient 
times inhabited a wild territory and had no intercourse with China, came to 
Macao in two or three large ships. Their clothes and their hair were red ; 
their bodies tall ; they had blue eyes, sunk deep in their heads. Their feet 
were one cubit and two-tenths long ; and they frightened the people by their 
strange appearance. ' 2 

The Portuguese Eafael Perestrello sailed in a junk for 
China in 1516, five years after the conquest of Malacca, and 
was the first person who ever conducted a vessel to China un- 
der a European flag. Ferdinand Andrade came in the next 
year, in four Portuguese and four Malay ships, and gave great 
satisfaction to the authorities at Canton by his fair dealings ; 
his galleons were allowed to anchor at Shangchuen, or St. John's 
Island. His brother Simon came the following year, and by 
his atrocious conduct entirely reversed the good opinion formed 
of his countrymen ; the Chinese besieged him in port and 
drove him away in 1521. Others of his countrymen followed 
him, and one of the earliest ships accompanied some Chinese 
junks along the coast, and succeeded in establishing a factory 

1 The Chinese, Vol. I., p. 20. 

2 The term Hung-mao, or 'red-haired,' then applied to the Dutch, has since 
been transferred to the English. 



76 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

•at Mngpo ; trade was also conducted at Amoy. In 1537 there 
were three Portuguese settlements near Canton, one at St. 
John's, one at a smaller island called Lampacao (Lang-peh-kau), 
lying north-west of the Grand Ladrones, and the third just 
begun on Macao. 1 In 1542 traders had left St. John's for 
Lampacao, and ten years afterward, at the time of Xavier's 
death, trade was concentrated at the latter, where fi.Ye or six 
hundred Portuguese constantly resided in 1560. Macao was 
commenced under the pretext of erecting sheds for drying goods 
introduced under the appellation of tribute, and alleged to have 
been damaged in a storm. In 1573 the Chinese government 
erected a barrier wall across the isthmus joining Macao to the 
island of Hiangshan, and in 1587 established a civil magistracy 
to rule the Chinese. By their ill conduct at Xingpo the Portu- 
guese drew upon them the vengeance of the people, who rose 
upon them and " destroyed twelve thousand Christians, includ- 
ing eight hundred Portuguese, and burned thirty-five ships and 
two junks." One of their provocative acts is stated to have 
been going out in large parties into the neighboring villages 
and seizing the women and virgins, by which they justly lost 
their privileges in one of the provinces and ports best adapted 
to European trade. Four years later, in 1519, they were also 
driven from their newly formed settlement at Chinchew. 

The Portuguese have sent four embassies to the Emperor of 
China. The first envoy, Thome Pires, was appointed by the 
Governor at Goa, and accompanied Ferdinand Andrade to 
Canton, in 1517, where he was received and treated in the 
usual style of foreign ambassadors. When his mission was re- 
ported at Peking the Emperor Chingtih was influenced against 
it by a subject of the Sultan of Malacca, and detained Pires at 
Canton three years ; the flagitious conduct of Andrade's brother 



1 There stood originally on the site of this town an idol known as Ama. 
Amau-gau, or Ama-kau, then, meant the 'Harbor of Ama,' which in Portu- 
guese was written Amacao, and afterward shortened to Macao. Comp. Trigau- 
tius, De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas, 1615. Nieuwhof, Nauwkeurige 
Beschryvinge vauH Oesandschap, etc., Amsterdam, 1664. Sir A. Ljungstedt, 
Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China, Boston, 1836. Chinese 
Commercial Guide, fifth edition, p. 229. 



PORTUGUESE RELATIONS WITH CHINA. 77 

and the character of the Portuguese induced the Emperor to 
appoint a court to examine whether the embassy was legitimate 
or spurious, and Pires and his companions were adjudged to be 
spies and sent back to Canton to be detained till Malacca was 
restored. This not being done, he and others suffered death in 
September, 1523 ; other accounts lead to the inference that he 
died in prison. Thus the innocent were made to suffer for the 
guilty. The next embassy was undertaken in 1552, at the sug- 
gestion of Xavier, by the Viceroy of Goa, but the mission pro- 
ceeded no farther than Malacca, the governor of that town 
refusing to allow it to leave the place — a significant intimation 
of the degree of subordination and order maintained by the 
Portuguese in the administration of their new colonies. The 
third was also sent from Goa in 1667, in the name of Alfonso 
YL, on occasion of the suspension of the trade of Macao by 
Kanghi ; the expense was defrayed by that colony (about 
forty thousand dollars), and " the result of it so little answered 
their expectations that the Senate solicited his Majesty not to 
intercede in behalf of his vassals at Macao with the govern- 
ment of China, were it not in an imperious and cogent case." 

A good opportunity and necessity for this, it was thought, pre- 
sented itself in 1723, when Magaillans returned to China carry- 
ing the answer of the Pope to Kanghf, to send an envoy, 
Alexander Metello, along with him to Peking. He arrived at 
court in May, 1727, and had his audience of leave in July, re- 
ceiving in exchange for the thirty chests of presents which he 
offered, and which Yungching received with pleasure "as evi- 
dences of the affection of the King of Portugal," as many for his 
master, besides a cup of wine and some porcelain dishes, sent 
from the Emperor's table, and other presents for himself and 
his retinue, which were "valuable solely because thej^ were the 
gifts of a monarch." No more advantage resulted from this 
than the embassy sent a century previous, though it cost the in- 
habitants of Macao a like heavy sum. Another and last Portu- 
guese embassy reached Peking in 1753, conducted and ending in 
much the same manner as its predecessors ; all of them exhibit- 
ing, in a greater or less degree, the spectacle of humiliating 
submission of independent nations through their envoys to a 



78 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

court which took pleasure in arrogantly exalting itself on the 
homage it received, and studiously avoided all reference to 
the real business of the embassy, that it might neither give nor 
deny anything. But in estimating its conduct in these respects, 
it must not be overlooked that the imperial court never asso- 
ciated commercial equality and regulations with embassies and 
tribute. 

The influence and wealth of the Portuguese in China for the 
last century and a half have gradual decreased. A Swedish 
knight, Sir Andrew Ljungstedt, published a historical sketch 
of their doings down to 1833, including an account of the 
colony, which is still the fullest book on the subject. In 1820 
the opium trade was removed to Lintin, and that being the 
principal source of income, the commerce of the place for many 
years was at a low ebb. The imperial commissioner Kiying 
granted some additional privileges to the settlement in 1844, 
among others, permitting the inhabitants to build and repair 
new houses, churches, and ships without a license, and to trade 
at the five ports open to foreign commerce on the same terms 
as other nations ; it was just three centuries before this that the 
Portuguese were driven away from Kingpo. The anchorage of 
the Typa was included in the jurisdiction of Macao, but the ap- 
plication of the Portuguese commissioner to surcease payment 
of the annual ground-rent of five hundred taels to the Chinese 
met with a decided refusal. Its advantages as a summer resort 
and its accessibility to a densely peopled region west invite 
visitors and traders to some extent, but the proximity and 
wealth of Hongkong make it secondary to that. Its short-lived 
prosperity in 1839-50, during the opium war and. early days 
of Hongkong, was followed by the enlargement of the coolie 
trade, which for twenty-five years was the only real business. 
The Chinese have never ceded the peninsula to the Portuguese 
crown, although they were powerless to prevent the export of 
coolies ; the relations now between the two countries are not 
distinctly defined. In 1862 a treaty was negotiated at Peking 
by Governor Guimaraes, in which the supremacy of the Portu- 
guese authority over the territory within the Barrier was implied 
rather than declared in Article IX., wherein the equal ap- 



THEIR EMBASSIES AjS t D TKADE. 79 

pointment of consular officers was mutually agreed to. The 
Chinese found out, however, that this virtually acknowledged 
the independence of the colony, and refused to ratify the treaty 
without an express stipulation asserting their right of domain to 
the peninsula. It has never been ratified, therefore, but trade 
is unfettered, and the Chinese inhabitants continue to increase ; 
no rental has been paid for the ground-tax since 1849. The 
cessation of the coolie trade in 1873 has reduced Macao lower 
than ever, and it now hardly pays its own officials; all the 
thrifty or wealthy foreign citizens have removed elsewhere. 

The trade between the Spaniards and Chinese has been 
smaller, and their relations less important than most other 
European nations. The Spanish admiral Legaspi conquered 
the Philippines in 1543, and Chinese merchants soon began to 
trade with Manila ; but the first attempt of the Spaniards to 
enter China was not made until 1575, when two Augustine 
friars accompanied a Chinese naval officer on his return home 
from the pursuit of a famous pirate named Li-ma-hon, whom 
the Spaniards had driven away from their new colony. The 
missionaries landed at Tansuso, a place on the coast of Kwang- 
tung, and went up to Canton, where they were courteously re- 
ceived. The prefect sent them to the governor at Shanking, 
by whom they were examined ; they stated that their chief ob- 
ject was to form a close alliance between the two nations for 
their mutual benefit, adding at the same time what their coun- 
trymen had done against Li-ma-hon ; a second object was their 
wish to learn the language of China and teach its inhabitants 
their religion. The governor kept them in a sort of honorable 
bondage several weeks, and at last sent them back to Manila, 
doubtless by orders from court, though he alleged as a reason 
that the pirate Li-ma-hon was still at large. After the return 
of this mission the governor of the Philippines deemed it ad- 
visable to let the trade take its own course, and therefore 
refused the proposal of a body of Franciscans to enter the coun- 
try. They, however, made the attempt in a small native ves- 
sel, and passed up the river to Tsiuenchau, where they were 
seized and examined as to their designs. Xot being acquainted 
with the language, they were both themselves deluded and mis- 



80 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

represented to the prefect by a professed native friend who un- 
derstood. Portuguese ; after many months' delay they were mor- 
tified to learn that no permission to remain would be given, 
and in 1580 they returned to Manila, not at all disposed to re- 
new the enterprise. 

Philip II., however, having received the suggestion made by 
the Chinese admiral that he should send an embassy to Peking, 
had already ordered the governor to undertake such an enter- 
prise. He fitted out a mission, therefore, in 1580, at the head 
of which was Martin Ignatius. It gives one a low idea of the 
skill of navigators at that day to learn that in this short trip, 
the vessel being carried up the coast northward of Canton, the 
party thought it better to land than to try to beat back to their 
destination. The envoy and all with him were brought before 
the Chinese officers, who, probably entirely misunderstanding 
their object, imprisoned them ; after considerable delay they 
were brought before a higher officer and sent on to Canton, 
where they were again imprisoned ; the Portuguese governor of 
Macao subsequently obtained their liberation. This unlucky 
attempt, if Mendoza is right in calling it an embassy, was the 
only one ever made by the Spanish government to communicate 
with the court of Peking until the mission of Don Sinibaldo de 
Mas in 1847 and his treaty of 1864. The pecular feature of 
that treaty was the privilege, first granted to Spanish mer- 
chants, of engaging coolies as contract laborers for Cuba. The 
harsh treatment they received there led the Chinese to send a 
commission of inquiry in 1873, and to suspend the validity of 
this article until the truth could be ascertained. This pro- 
cedure has resulted in a cessation of imported Chinese laborers 
at Havana. 

The Chinese have carried on a valuable trade at Manila, but 
the Spaniards have treated them with peculiar severity. They 
are burdened with special taxes, and their immigration is 
rather restrained than encouraged. The harsh treatment of 
Chinese settlers there excited the attention and indignation of 
one of their countrymen many years ago, and on his return to 
Canton he exercised all his influence with officers of his own 
government, making what he had seen the model and the mo- 



INTERCOURSE BETWEEN HOLLAND AND THE EAST. 81 

tive to induce them to treat all foreigners at Canton in the 
same way. It ended in perfecting the principal features of the 
system of espionage and restriction of the co-hong which ex-, 
isted for nearly a century, until the treaty of 1 842 ; — another 
instance of the treatment requited upon foreigners for their own 
acts. 

The Dutch commerce with the East commenced after their 
successful struggle against the Spanish yoke, and soon after 
completing their independence they turned their arms against 
the oriental possessions of their enemies, capturing Malacca, 
the Spice Islands, and other places. They appeared before 
Macao in 1622 with a squadron of seventeen vessels, but being 
repulsed with the loss of their admiral and about three hundred 
men, they retired and established themselves on the Pescadores 
in 1624. Their occupation of this position was a source of 
great annoyance both to the Spaniards and to the Chinese au- 
thorities in Fuhkien. According to the custom of those days, 
they began to build a fort, and forced the native Chinese to do 
their work, treating them with great severity. Many of the 
laborers were prisoners, whom the Dutch had taken in their at- 
tacks. Alternate hostilities and parleys succeeded, the Chinese 
declaring that the Dutch must send an envoy to the authorities 
on the mainland ; they accordingly despatched Yon Milder t to 
Amoy, and the sub-prefect forwarded him to Fuhchau to the 
governor. He decided to send a messenger to the Dutch to 
state to them that trade would be allowed if they would remove 
to Formosa, but this proposition was refused. However, after 
a series of attacks and negotiations, the Chinese constantly in- 
creasing their forces and the Dutch diminishing in their sup- 
plies, the latter acceded to the proposition, and removed to 
Formosa, where they erected Fort Zealandia in 1621. It is re- 
corded that the Chinese landed five thousand troops on one of 
the Pescadore Islands ; and their determined efforts in repelling 
the aggressions or occupation of their soil by the Dutch proba- 
bly raised their reputation for courage, and prevented the repe- 
tition of similar acts by others. It was doubtless a good stroke 
of policy on their part to propose the occupation of Formosa to 
the Dutch in exchange for the Pescadores, for they had not the 



82 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

least title to it themselves, and hardly knew its exact size o* 
the character of the inhabitants. The Dutch endeavored to 
extend their power over it, but with only partial success; in 
the villages around Fort Zealandia they introduced new laws 
among the inhabitants, and instead of their councils of elders, 
constituted one of their chief men supervisor in every village, 
to administer justice and report his acts to the governor of the 
island. 

The moral interests of the natives were not neglected, and in 
1626 George Candidius, a Protestant minister, was appointed 
to labor among them, and took great pains to introduce Chris- 
tianity. The natives were ignorant of letters, their superstitions 
resting only on traditions or customs which were of recent ori- 
gin ; the prospects, therefore, of teaching them a better religion 
were favorable. In sixteen months he had instructed over a 
hundred in the leading truths of Christianity. The work was 
progressing favorably, churches and schools were multiplying, 
the intermarriages of the colonists and natives were bringing 
them into closer relationship with each other, and many thou- 
sands of the islanders had been baptized, when the Dutch gov- 
ernors in India, fearful of offending the Japanese, who were 
then persecuting the Christians in Japan — in which the Dutch 
helped them, to their lasting disgrace — restricted these benevo- 
lent labors, and discouraged the further conversion of the 
islanders. Thus, as often elsewhere in Asia, the interests of 
true religion were sacrificed upon the altar of mammon, and 
the trade thus bought died from inanition. 

During the struggles ensuent upon the overthrow of the 
Ming dynasty, many thousands of families emigrated to For- 
mosa, some of whom settled under the Dutch, while others 
planted separate colonies ; their industry soon changed the 
desolate island into a cultivated country, and increased the pro- 
duce of rice and sugar for exportation. The immigration went 
on so rapidly as to alarm the Dutch, who, instead of taking 
wise measures to conciliate and instruct the colonists, tried to 
prevent their landing, and thereby did much to irritate them 
and lead them to join in any likely attempt to expel the for- 
eigners. 



DUTCH OCCUPATION OF FORMOSA. 83 

Meanwhile, their trade with China itself was trifling com- 
pared with that of then* rivals, the Portuguese, and when the 
undoubted ascendancy of the Manchus was evident, the govern- 
ment of Batavia resolved to despatch a deputation to Canton 
to petition for trade. In January, 1653, Schedel was sent in a 
richly freighted ship, but the Portuguese succeeded in prevent- 
ing any farther traffic, even after the envoy had spent consid- 
erable sums in presents to the authorities, and obtained the 
governor's promise to allow his countrymen to build a factory. 
Schedel was informed, however, that his masters would do well 
to send an embassy to Peking, a suggestion favorably enter- 
tained by the Company, which, in 1655, appointed Goyer and 
Keyzer as its envoys. The narrative of this embassy by 
Xieuwhof, the steward of the mission, made Europeans better 
acquainted with the country than they had before been — almost 
the only practical benefit it produced, for as a mercantile specu- 
lation it proved nearly a total loss. Their presents were re- 
ceived and others given in return ; they prostrated themselves 
not only before the Emperor in person, but made the kotow to 
his name, his letters, and his throne, doing everything in the 
way of humiliation and homage likely to please the new rulers. 
The only privilege their subserviency obtained was permission 
to send an embassy once in eight years, at which time they 
might come in four ships to trade. 

This mission left China in 1657, and very soon after, the 
Chinese chieftain, Ching Ching-kung (Koshinga, or Koxinga 
as his name is written by the Portuguese), began to prepare an 
attack upon Formosa. The Dutch had foreseen the probability 
of this onset, and had been strengthening the garrison of Zea- 
landia since 1650 while they were negotiating for trade ; Kox- 
inga, too, had confined himself to sending emissaries among 
his countrymen in Formosa, to inform them of his designs. 
He set about preparing an armament at Amoy, ostensibly to 
strengthen himself against the Manchus, meanwhile carrying 
on his ordinary traffic with the colony to lull all apprehensions 
until the council had sent away the admiral and force de- 
spatched from Java to protect them, when in June, 1661, he 
landed a force of twenty-five thousand troops, and took up a 



84 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

strong position. The communication between the forts being 
cut off, the governor sent two hundred and forty men to dis- 
lodge the enemy, only half of whom returned alive ; one of 
the four ships in the harbor was burned by the Chinese, and 
another hastened to Batavia for reinforcements. Koxinga fol- 
lowed up these successes by cutting off all communication be- 
tween the garrison and the surrounding country, and compelling 
the surrender of the garrison and cannon in the small fort. 
Fort Zealandia was now closely invested, but finding himself 
severely galled, he turned the siege into a blockade, and vented 
his rage against the Dutch living in the surrounding country, 
and such Chinese as abetted them. Some of the ministers and 
schoolmasters were seized and crucified, under the pretext that 
they encouraged their parishioners to resist ; others were used 
as agents to treat concerning the surrender of the fort. Yal- 
entyn has given a clear history of the occupation of Formosa 
by his countrymen in his great work, and especially of their 
defeat at Zealandia. He narrates an incident of Rev. A. Ham- 
broek, as does also Xieuwhof, from whose travels it is quoted. 

Among the Dutch prisoners taken in the country, was one Mr. Hambroek, a 
minister. This man was sent by Koxinga to the governor, to propose terms for 
surrendering the fort ; and that in case of refusal, vengeance would be taken 
on the Dutch prisoners. Mr. Hambroek came into the castle, being forced to 
leave his wife and children behind him as hostages, which sufficiently proved 
that if he failed in his negotiation, they had nothing but death to expect from 
the chieftain. Yet was he so far from persuading the garrison to surrender, 
that he encouraged them to a brave defence by hopes of relief, assuring them 
that Koxinga had lost many of his best ships and soldiers, and began to be 
weary of the siege. When he had ended, the council of war left it to his 
choice to stay with them or return to the camp, where he could expect noth- 
ing but present death ; every one entreated him to stay. He had two daugh- 
ters within the castle, who hung upon his neck, overwhelmed with grief and 
tears to see their father ready to go where they knew he must be sacrificed by 
the merciless enemy. But he represented to them that having left his wife 
and two other children as hostages, nothing but death could attend them if he 
returned not : so unlocking himself from his daughters' arms, and exhort- 
ing everybody to a resolute defence, he returned to the camp, telling them at 
parting that he hoped he might prove serviceable to his poor fellow-prisoners. 
Koxinga received his answer sternly ; then causing it to be rumored that the 
prisoners excited the Formosans to rebel, he ordered all the Dutch male 
prisoners to be slain ; some being beheaded, others killed in a more barbarous 
manner, to the number of five hundred, their bodios stripped quite naked 



KOXINGA DRIVES THEM FROM THE ISLAND. 85 

and buried ; nor were the women and children spared, many of them like- 
wise being slain, though some of the best were preserved for the use of the 
commanders, and the rest sold to the common soldiers. Among the slain were 
Messrs. Hambroek, Mus, Winsam, Ampzingius, and Campius, clergymen, and 
many schoolmasters. 

A force of ten ships and seven hundred men arriving from 
Batavia, the besieged began to act on the offensive, bat were 
unable to drive Koxinga from the town, though they checked 
his operations and brought down the garrisons from Killing 
and Tamsui to their aid. A letter from the governor of Fuh- 
kien to Coyet, the Dutch governor, came soon after, suggesting 
a junction of their forces to drive Koxinga away from the coast, 
after which both could easily conquer him in Formosa. This 
proposal was followed, but no sooner had the five vessels gone 
than Koxinga made his advances so vigorously that the garrison 
was forced to surrender, after a siege of nine months and the 
loss of one thousand six hundred men. Thus ended the Dutch 
rule in Formosa, after twenty-eight years' duration. 1 

This loss induced the council at Batavia to prosecute their 
former enterprise against Amoy, where Koxinga still had a gar- 
rison. Twelve vessels were fitted out under Bort, who arrived, 
in 1662, at the mouth of the River Min, where he was visited 
by deputies from the governor, and induced to send two of his 
officers to arrange with him concerning operations. The gover- 
nor was in the country, and the two officers, on reaching his 
camp, soon saw that there could be no cordiality between their 
leaders ; this proposal of a foreign power to assist them against 
the Chinese was too much like that of "Wu San-kwei to their 
chieftains in 1644 for the Manchus to entertain it. Bort, de- 
sirous of doing something, commenced a series of attacks on 
the fleet and garrisons of Koxinga, burning and destroying them 

1 Chinese Repository, Vols. I., p 414, and XX., p. 543. Journal JV. C. Br. 
B. As. Soc., Vol. XI. (1876), Art. I. Moreau de St.-Mery, Voyage de VAm- 
bassade de la Compagnie des Indes orientcdes Hollandaises vers VEmpereur de la 
Chine, tire du journal d? Andre Everard van Braam Houckgeest, translated and 
published in London, 2 Vols., 1798. J. Meuwhof, Nauickeurigc Beschryvinge 
vanH Gesandschap der JVederlandtsche Oost-Indisclie Compagnie van Batavia nar 
Peking in Sina, door de JSeeren Pieter de Goyer m Jacob de Keyser, Amster- 
dam, 1664. 



86 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

in a piratical manner, that was not less ineffectual toward re 
gaining Formosa and obtaining privilege of trade at Canton 
than harassing to the Chinese on the coast, He returned to 
Batavia in 1663, and was despatched to Fuhkien in a few 
months with a stronger force, and ordered to make reprisals on 
both Manckus and Chinese, if necessary, in order to get satis- 
faction for the loss of Formosa. The governor received him 
favorably, and after a number of skirmishes against the rebel- 
lious Chinese, Amoy was taken and its troops destroyed, which 
completed the subjugation of the province to the Manchus. As 
a reward for this assistance, the real value of which cannot, 
however, be easily ascertained, the governor lent two junks to 
the Dutch to retake Formosa, but Koxinga laughed at the piti- 
ful force sent against him, and Bort sailed for Batavia. 

These results so chagrined the council that they fitted out no 
more expeditions, preferring to despatch an embassy, under Van 
Hoorn, to Peking, to petition for trade and permission to erect 
factories. He landed at Fuhchau in 166^, where he was re- 
ceived in a polite manner. The imperial sanction had been 
already received, but he unwisely delayed his journey to the 
capital until his cargo was sold. While discussing this matter 
the Dutch seized a Chinese vessel bringing bullion from Java 
contrary to their colonial regulations, and the governor Yery 
properly intimated that until restitution was made no amicable 
arrangement could be completed ; consequently Yan Hoorn, in 
order to save his dignity and not contravene the orders of his 
own government, was obliged to allow the bullion to be carried 
off, as if by force', by a police officer. 

These preliminary disputes were not settled till nearly a year 
had elapsed, when Yan Hoorn and his suite left Fuhchau, and 
after a tedious journey up the River Min and across the moun- 
tains to Hangchau, they reached the canal and Peking, having 
been six months on the way, " during which they saw thirty- 
seven cities and three hundred and thirty-five villages." The 
same succession of prostrations before an empty throne, followed 
by state banquets, and accompanied by the presentation and con- 
ferring of presents, characterized the reception of this embassy 
as it had all its predecessors. It ended with a similar farce, alike 



EMBASSIES OF VAN HOORN AND VAN BRAAM. 87 

pleasing to the haughty court which received it, and unworthy 
the Christian nation which gave it; and the "only result of 
this grand expedition was a sealed letter, of the contents of 
which they were wholly ignorant, but which did not, in fact, 
grant any of the privileges they so anxiously solicited." They 
had, by their performance of the act of prostration, caused their 
nation to be enrolled among the tributaries of the Grand khan, 
and then were dismissed as loyal subjects should be, at the will 
of their liege lord, with what he chose to give them. It was a 
fitting end to a career begun in rapine and aggression toward 
the Chinese, who had never provoked them. 

The Dutch sent no more embassies to Peking for one hun- 
dred and thirty years, but carried on trade at Canton on the 
same footing as other nations. The ill success of Macartney's 
embassy in 1793 induced Tan Braam, the consular agent at 
Canton, to propose a mission of salutation and respect from the 
government of Batavia, on the occasion of Kienlung reaching 
the sixtieth year of his reign. He hoped, by conforming to 
Chinese ceremonies, to obtain some privileges which would 
place Dutch trade on a better footing, but one would have sup- 
posed that the miscarriage of former attempts might have 
sonvinced him that nothing was to be gained by new humilia- 
tions before a court which had just dismissed a well-appointed 
embassy. The Company appointed Isaac Titsingh, late from 
Japan, as chief commissioner, giving Van Braam the second 
place, and making up their cortege with a number of clerks 
and interpreters, one of whom, De G-uignes, wrote the re- 
sults of his researches during a long residence in Canton, and 
his travels with the embassy to Peking, under the title of Voy- 
ages d Peking. It is needless to detail the annoyances, humil- 
iations, and contemptuous treatment experienced by the em- 
bassy on its overland journey in midwinter, and the degrading 
manner in which the Emperor received the envoys : his hauteur 
was a befitting foil to their servility, at once exhibiting both his 
pride and their ignorance of their true position and rights. 
They were brought to the capital like malefactors, treated when 
there like beggars, and then sent back to Canton like mounte- 
banks to perform the three-times-three prostration at all times 



88 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

and before everything their conductors saw fit ; who on their 
part stood by and laughed at their embarrassment in making 
these evolutions in their tight clothes. They were not allowed 
a single opportunity to speak about business, which the Chinese 
never associate with an embassy, but were entertained with 
banquets and theatrical shows, and performed many skilful 
evolutions themselves upon their skates, greatly to the Em- 
peror's gratification, and received, moreover, a present of broken 
victuals from him, which had not only been honored by coming 
from his Majesty's own table, but bore marks of his teeth and 
good appetite ; " they were upon a dirty plate, and appeared 
rather destined to feed a dog than form the repast of a human 
creature." Van Braam's account of this embassy is one of the 
most humiliating records of ill-requited obsequiousness before 
insolent government lackeys which any European was ever 
called upon to pen. The mission returned to Canton in April, 
1796, having attained no more noble end than that of saluting 
the Emperor, and this, indeed, was all the Chinese meant should 
be done when themselves suggesting the entire performance ; 
for in order to understand much of their conduct toward their 
guests, the feelings they entertained toward them must not be 
lost sight of. 

In 1843 the governor-general at Batavia sent T. Modderman 
to Canton to make inquiries respecting trade at the newly 
opened ports and establish consulates. The council there had, 
in 1839, forbidden Chinese to settle in any of their Indian 
colonies, owing to their skill in engrossing the native trade ; but 
when this prohibition was removed about 1875, the Chinese 
showed no disposition to emigrate to Java. In 1863 a treaty 
was negotiated by M. Van der Hoeven at Tientsin, which placed 
the trade on the same footing as other nations. 

The French Government has never sent a formal mission to 
the capital to petition for trade and make obeisance, though 
through their missionaries that nation has made Europeans 
better acquainted with China and given the Chinese more 
knowledge of western countries than all other Christian nations 
together. In the year 1289 Philip the Fair received a letter 
from Argun khan in Persia, and in 1305 another from Oljaitu, 



RELATIONS OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA WITH CHINA. 89 

both of them proposing joint action against their enemies the 
Saracens. The originals are still to be seen in Paris. In 1688 
Louis XIV. addressed a letter to Kanghi, whom he called 
"Most high, most excellent, most puissant, and most magnani- 
mous prince, dearly beloved good friend ; " and signed himself 
" Your most dear and good friend, Louis." In 1844 diplomatic 
relations were resumed by the appointment of a large mission, 
at the head of which was M. Lagrene, by whom a treaty was 
formed between France and China. 1 ^-—^ 

The Russians have sent several embassies to Peking, and ./ 
compelled the Chinese to treat them as equals. The first re- * 
corded visit of Russian agents at Peking is that of two Cos- 
sacks, Petroff and Yallysheff, in 1567, who, however, did not 
see the Emperor Lungking, who succeeded to the throne that 
year, because they had brought no presents. In 1619 Evashko 
Pettlin reached that city, having come across the desert from 
Tomsk ; but he and his companion, having no presents, could 
not see the " dragon's face," and were dismissed with a letter, 
which all the learning at Tobolsk and Moscow could not de- 
cipher. Thirty-four years after, the Czar Alexis (1653) sent his 
envoy Baikoff, who refused to-prostrate himself before the 
Emperor Shunchi, and was promptly dismissed. This repulse 
did not interfere with trade, for in the years 1658, 1672, and 
1677 three several trading embassies reached Peking. During 
all this time Russian and Chinese subjects and soldiers fre- 
quently quarrelled, especially along the banks of the Amur, and 
the necessity of settling these disturbances and pretexts for 
trouble by fixing the boundary line being evident to both na- 
tions, commissioners were appointed and met at Xipchu, where, 
on August 27, 1689, J^h£vsignj?d_t[^^ 

upon by the court of Peking. The principal points in it were 
the retirement of the Russians from Albazin and Manchuria, 
where they had held their own for thirty-eight years, the free- 
dom of trade, and defining the frontier along the Daourian 
Mountains. The missionary Gerbillon was mainly instrumental 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 526-535. Yule's Cathay, p. cxxx. Re- 
musat in Mem. de VAcad. Ins., Vol. VII., pp. 367, 391 ff. 



90 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

in settling these disputes, and neither party would probably 
have lowered its arrogant claims if it had not been through his 
influence ; the Chinese were far the most difficult to please. 1 

Peter sent Ysbrandt Ides in 1692 as his envoy to Peking to 
exchange the ratifications. His journey across the wilds and 
wastes of Central Asia took up more time than a voyage by 
sea, for it was not till a year and eight months that "he could 
return thanks to the great God, who had conducted them ali 
safe and well to their desired place." Ides' own account of his 
mission contains very slight notices regarding its object or how 
he was received; but it is now credibly believed that he per- 
formed the kotoio before the Emperor. About twenty years 
after his departure, Kanghi sent a Manchu envoy, Tulishen, 
through Russia to confer with the khan of the Tourgouth Tar- 
tars about their return to China, which a portion of them ac- 
complished some years after. Tulishen executed his mission so 
well that he was sent again as envoy to the Czar about 1730, 
and reached Petersburg in the reign of Peter II. In 1719 
Peter the Great despatched another embassy, under Ismailofr", to 
arrange the trade then conducted on a precarious footing — an 
account of which was drawn up by John Bell in 1763. Ismai- 
loff refused to prostrate himself until it was agreed that a Chi- 
nese minister, whenever sent to Petersburg, should conform to 
the usages of the Russians ; a safe stipulation, certainly, to a court 
which never demeans itself to send missions. The evident de- 
sirableness of keeping on good terms with the Russians led the 
Chinese to treat their envoys with unusual respect and attend to 
the business they came to settle. One of the most instructive 
books on the kind of intercourse carried on during this period is 
the Journal of Lange, w T ho went first in 1716, and thrice after- 
ward, and has left an account of his residence at Kanghi's capital." 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., pp. 417, 506. Du Halde, Description geo- 
gmphique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de V Empire de la Chine 
et de la Tartaric chinoise, 4 vols., Paris, 1735. G. Timkowski, Travels of the 
Russian Mission through Mongolia to China, etc. , 2 vols. , London, 1827. Klap- 
roth, Memoires sur VAsie, Tome I., pp. 1-81. 

2 Published in one volume with Bell: Journey from St. Petersburgh in Ril» 
ski to Ispahan in Persia, etc., London, 1715. 



RUSSIAN MISSIONS TO PEKING. 91 

In 1727 a fifth mission was sent by the Empress Catherine 
under Count Vladislavitch, which succeeded in establishing the 
intercourse on a still better basis, viz., that a mission, consisting 
of six ecclesiastical and four lay members, should remain at 
Peking to study the Chinese and Mancliu languages, so that in- 
terpreters could be prepared and communications carried on sat- 
isfactorily; the members were to be changed decennially. The 
caravans, which had been the vehicles of trade, were regulated 
about 1730 by the establishment, at Kiakhta and Maimaichin, 
of two marts on the frontier, where it could be brought under 
regulations; the last reached Peking in 1755. This embassy 
was the most successful of all, and partly owing to the Emperor 
Yungching's desire to counterbalance Jesuit intrigues by raising 
up other interpreters. This treaty, signed August 27, 1727, re- 
mained in force till June, 1858 — the longest lived treaty on record. 
The narrative of George Timkowski, who conducted the relief 
sent in 1821, gives an account of his trip from Kiakhta across the 
desert, together with considerable information relating to the Kal- 
kas and other Mongol tribes subject to China. The archiman- 
drite, Hyacinth Batchourin, has given a description of Peking, ,. 
but such works as the members of the Russian college have written 
are for the most part still in that language. Up to the present 
date there have been sixteen archimandrites (1736 to 1880) and 
many monks attached to the ecclesiastical mission in Peking^_^ 

The intercourse of the English with China, though it com- 
menced later than other maritime nations of Europe, has been 
far more important in its consequences, and their trade greater 
in amount than all other foreign nations combined. This inter- 
course has not been such as was calculated to impress the Chi- 
nese with a just idea of the character of the British nation as a 
leading Christian people ; for the East India Company, which 
had the monopoly of the trade between the two countries for 
nearly two centuries, systematically opposed every effort to dif- 
fuse Christian doctrine and general knowledge among them 
down to the end of their control in 1834. 

1 Dudgeon's monograph on Russian Intercourse with China contains notices 
of all events of any importance between the two nations, digested with great 
care, pp. 80, Peking, 1872. Also, Martin's C7iina, Vol. I., p. 386. 



92 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

The first English vessels anchored off Macao in July, 1635 t 
under the command of AVeddell, who was sent to China in ac> 
cordance with a "truce and free trade" which had been entered 
into between the English merchants and the viceroy of Goa, who 
gave letters to the governor of Macao. The fleet was coldly 
received and TTeddell deluded with vain promises until the 
Portuguese fleet had sailed for Japan, when he was denied per- 
mission to trade. Two or three of his officers having visited 
Canton, he was very desirous to participate in the traffic, and 
proceeded with his whole fleet up to the Bogue forts, where 
this desire was made known to the commanders of the forts, 
who promised to return an answer in a week. Meanwhile the 
Portuguese so misrepresented them to the Chinese that the 
commander of the forts concluded to end the matter by driving 
them away. Having made every preparation during the period 
the fleet was waiting, an attack was first made upon a watering- 
boat by firing shot at it when passing near the forts. 

" Herewith the whole fleet, being instantly incensed, did, on 
the sudden, display their bloody ensigns ; and, weighing their 
anchors, fell up with the flood, and berthed themselves before 
the castle, from whence came many shot, jet not any that 
touched so much as hull or rope ; whereupon, not being able to 
endure their bravadoes any longer, each ship began to play 
furiously upon them with their broadsides ; and after two or 
three hours, perceiving their cowardly fainting, the boats were 
landed with about one hundred men : which sight occasioned 
them, with great distractions, instantly to abandon the castle and 
fly ; the boats' crews, in the meantime, without let, entering the 
same and displaying his Majesty's colors of Great Britain upon 
the walls, having the same night put aboard all their ordnance, 
fired the council-house and demolished what they could. The 
boats of the fleet also seized a junk laden with boards and tim- 
ber, and another with salt. Another vessel of small moment 
was surprised, by whose boat a letter was sent to the chief 
mandarins at Canton, expostulating their breach of truce, ex- 
cusing the assailing of the castle, and withal in fair terms re- 
quiring the liberty of trade." 1 This letter was shortly answered, 

1 Staunton's Embassy, Vol. I. , pp. 5-12. 



COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH INTERCOURSE. 93 

and after a little explanatory negotiation, hastened to a favor- 
able conclusion on the part of the Chinese by what they had 
seen, trade was allowed after the captured guns and vessels 
were restored and the ships supplied with cargoes. 

No other attempt to open a trade was made till 1664, and 
during the change of dynasty which took place in the interim, 
the trade of all nations with China suffered. The East India 
Company had a factory at Bantam in Java, and one at Madras, 
but their trade with the East was seriously incommoded by the 
war with the Dutch ; when it was renewed in 1664, only one 
ship was sent to Macao, but such were the exactions imposed 
upon the trade by the Chinese, and the effect of the misrepre- 
sentations of the Portuguese, that the ship returned without 
effecting sale. This did not discourage the Company, however, 
who ordered their agents at Bantam to make inquiries respect- 
ing the most favorable port and what commodities were most 
in demand. They mentioned " Fuhchau as a place of great 
resort, affording all China commodities, as raw and wrought 
silk, tutenague, gold, china-root, tea, etc." A trade had been 
opened with Koxinga's son in Formosa and at Amoy, but this 
rude chieftain had little other idea of traffic than a means of 
helping himself to every curious commodity the ships brought, 
and levying heavy imposts upon their cargoes. A treaty was 
indeed entered into with him, in which the supercargoes, as 
was the case subsequently in 1842, stipulated for far greater 
privileges and lighter duties than Chinese goods and ves- 
sels would have had in English ports. Besides freedom to 
go where they pleased without any one attending them, access 
at all times to the king, liberty to choose their own clerks 
and trade with whom they pleased, it was also agreed " that 
what goods the king buys shall pay no custom ; that rice 
imported pay no custom ; that all goods imported pay three 
per cent, after sale, and all goods exported be custom free." 
The trade at Amoy was more successful than at Zealand! a, 
and a small vessel was sent there in 1677, which brought 
back a favorable report. In 1678 the investments for these 
two places were $30,000 in bullion and $20,000 in goods; the 
returns were chiefly in silk goods, tutenague, rhubarb, etc. ; 



94 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

the trade was continued for several years, apparently with con- 
siderable profit, though the Manchus continually increased the 
restrictions under which it labored. In 1681 the Company or- 
dered their factories at Amoy and Formosa to be withdrawn, 
and one established at Canton or Fuhchau, but in 1685 the 
trade was renewed at Amoy. 

The Portuguese managed to prevent the English obtaining a 
footing at Canton until about 1684 ; and, as Davis remarks, the 
stupid pertinacity with which they endeavored to exclude them 
from this port and trade is one of the most striking circum- 
stances connected with these trials and rivalries. It is the more 
inexplicable in the case of the Portuguese, for they could carry 
nothing to England, nor could they force the English to trade 
with them at second hand ; theirs was truly the " dog in the 
manger" policy, and they have subsequently starved upon it. 
In 1689 a duty of fLve shillings per pound was laid upon tea im- 
ported into England ; and the principal articles of export are 
stated to have been wrought silks of every kind, porcelain, lac- 
quered-ware, a good quantity of fine tea, some fans and screens. 
Ten years after, the court of directors sent out a cons til's com- 
mission to the chief supercargo, Mr. Catchpoole, which consti- 
tuted him king's minister or consul for the whole Empire of 
China and the adjacent islands. In 1701 an attempt was made 
by him to open a trade, and he obtained permission to send 
ships to Chusan or Ningpo ; an investment in three vessels, 
worth £101,300, was accordingly made, but he found the exac- 
tions of the government so grievous, and the monopoly of the 
merchants so oppressive, that the adventure proved a great loss, 
and the traders were compelled to withdraw. The Company's 
hopes of trade at that port must, however, have been great, for 
their investment to Amoy that year was only £34,400, and to 
Canton £40,800. In 1702 Catchpoole also established a factory 
at Pulo Condore, an island near the coast of Cochinchina which 
had been taken by the English. The whole concern, however, 
experienced a tragical end in 1705, when the Malays rose upon 
the English, murdered them all, and burned the factory. The 
Cochinchinese are said to have instigated this treacherous at- 
tack to regain the island, which was claimed by them. 



EARLY EFFORTS IN ESTABLISHING A TRADE. 95 

The extortions and grievances suffered by the traders at Can- 
ton were increased in 1702 by the appointment of an individual 
who alone had the right of trading with them and of farming 
it out to those who had the means of doing so. The trade 
seems hardly, even at this time, to have taken a regular form, 
but by 1720 the number and value of the annual commodities 
had so much increased that the Chinese established a uniform 
duty of four per cent, on all goods, and appointed a body of 
native merchants, who, for the privilege of trading with for- 
eigners, became security for their payment of duties and good 
behavior. The duty on imports was also increased to about 
sixteen per cent, and an enormous fee demanded of purveyors 
before they could supply ships with provisions, besides a heavy 
measurement duty and cumshaw to the collector of customs. 
These exactions seemed likely to increase unless a stand was 
taken against them. This was done by a united appeal to the 
governor in person in 1728 ; yet the relief w T as only temporary, 
for the plan w T as so effectual and convenient for the government 
that the co-hong was ere long re-established as the only me- 
dium through which the foreign trade could be conducted. An 
additional duty of ten per cent, was laid upon all exports, which 
no efforts were effectual in removing until the accession of 
Ivienlung in 1736. This apparently suicidal practice of levying 
export duties is, in China, really a continuation of the internal 
excise or transit duties paid upon goods exported in native ves- 
sels as well as foreign. 

The Emperor, in taking off the newly imposed duty of ten 
per cent, required that the merchants should hear the act of 
grace read upon their knees ; but the foreigners all met in a 
body, and each one agreed on his honor not to submit to this 
slavish posture, nor make any concession or proposal of accom- 
modation without acquainting the rest. The Emperor also re- 
quired the delivery of all the arms on board ship, a demand 
afterward waived on the payment of about ten thousand dollars. 
The hong merchants shortly became the only medium of com- 
munication with the government, themselves being the exactors 
of the duties and contrivers of the grievances, and when com- 
plaints were made, the judges of the equity of their own acts. 



96 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

In 1734 only one English ship came to Canton, and one was 
sent to Amoy, but the extortions there were greater than at the 
other port, whereupon the latter vessel withdrew. In 1736 the 
number of ships at Canton was four English, two French, two 
Dutch, one Danish, and one Swedish vessel ; the Portuguese 
ships had been restricted to Macao before this date. 

Commodore Anson arrived at Macao in 1742, and as the 
Centurion was the first British man-of-war which had visited 
China, his decided conduct in refusing to leave the river until 
provisions were furnished, and his determination in seeking an 
interview with the governor, no doubt had a good effect. A 
mixture of decision and kindness, such as that exhibited by 
Anson when demanding only what was in itself right, and 
backed by an array of force not lightly to be trifled with or 
incensed, has always proved the most successful way of dealing 
with the Chinese, who on their part need instruction as well as 
intimidation. The constant presence of a ship of war on the 
coast of China would perhaps have saved foreigners much of 
the personal vexations, and prevented many of the imposts 
upon trade which the history of foreign intercourse exhibits, 
making it in fact little better than a recital of annoyances on 
the part of a government too ignorant and proud to understand 
its own true interests, and recriminations on the part of traders 
unable to do more than protest against them. 

In consequence of the exactions of the government and the 
success of the co-hong in preventing all direct intercourse with 
the local authorities, the attempt was again made to trade at 
Amoy and jSmgpo. The Hardwicke was sent to Amoy in 
1744, and obliged to return without a cargo. Messrs. Flint and 
Harrison were despatched to Kingpo in 1755, and were well 
received ; but when the Holderness subsequently came to trade, 
it was with difficulty that she procured a cargo, and an imperial 
edict was promulgated soon after restricting all foreign ships to 
Canton. In 1759 the factory at Kingpo was demolished, so 
that Mr. Flint, who repaired there that year, was unable to do 
anything toward restoring the trade. This gentleman was a 
person of uncommon perseverance and talents, and had mas- 
tered the difficulties of the Chinese language so as to act as 



EXERTIONS AND PUNISHMENT OF MR. FLINT. 97 

interpreter at Canton twelve years before lie was sent on his 
mission. " The ungrateful return which his energy and exer- 
tions in their service met with from his employers," justly ob- 
serves Sir John Davis, " was such as tended in all probability, 
more than any other cause, to discourage his successors from 
undertaking so laborious, unprofitable, and even hazardous a 
work of supererogation." 

On his arrival at Mngpo, Mr. Flint, finding it useless to attempt 
anything there, proceeded in a native vessel to Tientsin, from 
whence he succeeded in making his case known to the Emperor 
Kienlung. A commissioner was deputed to accompany him 
overland to Canton ; Mr. Flint proceeded to the English factory 
soon after his arrival, and the foreigners of all nations assembled 
before the commissioner, who informed them that the hoppo 
had been superseded, and all duties remitted over six per cent, 
on goods and the cumshaw and tonnage dues on ships. The 
sequel of Mr. Flint's enterprise was unfortunate, and the mode 
the Chinese took to bring it about thoroughly characteristic. 

It proved, however, that these fair appearances were destined only to be 
the prelude to a storm. Some days afterward the governor desired to see Mr. 
Flint for the purpose of communicating the Emperor's orders, and was accom- 
panied by the council of his countrymen. When the party had reached the 
palace, the hong merchants proposed their going in one at a time, but they in- 
sisted on proceeding together ; and on Mr. Flint being called for, they were 
received at the first gate and ushered through two courts with seeming com- 
plaisance by the officers in waiting ; but on arriving at the gate of the inner 
court they were hurried, and even forced into the governor's presence, where 
a struggle ensued with their brutal conductors to force them to do homage 
after the Chinese fashion until they were overpowered and thrown down. See- 
ing their determination not to submit to these base humiliations, the governor 
ordered the people to desist ; and then telling Mr. Flint to advance, he 
pointed to an order, which he called the Emperor's edict, for his banishment 
to Macao, and subsequent departure for England, on account of his endeavor- 
ing to open a trade at Ningpo contrary to orders from Peking He added 
that the native who had written the petition in Chinese was to be beheaded 
that day for traitorously encouraging foreigners, which was performed on a 
man quite innocent of what these officers were pleased to call a crime. Mr. 
Flint was soon after conveyed to Tsienshan, a place near Macao, called Casa 
Branca by the Portuguese, where he was imprisoned two years and a half and 
then sent to England. J 

1 Davis, Chinese, Vol. I. , p. 58. 



98 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Mr. Flint stated to the Company that a fee of one thousand 
two hundred and fifty dollars to the governor would set him at 
liberty, but they contented themselves with a petition. The 
punishment he received from the Chinese for this attempt to 
break their laws would not have been considered as unmerited or 
unjust in any other country, but the neglect of the Company to 
procure the liberation of one who had suffered so much to serve 
them reflects the greatest reproach upon that body. 

The whole history of the foreign trade, as related by Auber 
in his chronological narrative, during the one hundred and fifty 
years up to 1842 is a melancholy and curious chapter in na- 
tional intercourse. The grievances complained of were delay 
in loading ships and plunder of goods on their transit to Can- 
ton ; the injurious proclamations annually put up by the gov- 
ernment accusing foreigners of horrible crimes ; the extortions 
of the underlings of office ; and the difficulty of access to the 
high authorities. The hong merchants, from their position as 
traders and interpreters between the two parties, were able to 
delude both to a considerable extent, though their responsi- 
bility for the acts and payments of foreigners, over whom they 
could exercise no real restraint, rendered their situation by no 
means pleasant. The rule on which the Chinese government 
proceeded in its dealings with foreigners was this : " The bar- 
barians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same prin- 
ciples as citizens. Were any one to attempt controlling them 
by the great maxims of reason, it would tend to nothing but 
confusion. The ancient kings well understood this, and ac- 
cordingly ruled barbarians by misrule ; therefore, to rule bar- 
barians by misrule is the true and best way of ruling them." 
The same rule in regard to foreign traders was virtually acted 
on in England during the reign of Henry YIL, and the ideas 
among the Chinese of their power over those who visit their 
shores are not unlike those which prevailed in Europe before 
the Reformation. 

The entire ignorance of foreign traders of the spoken and 
written language of China brought them into contempt with 
all classes, and where all intercourse was carried on In a jargon 
which each party despised, the results were often misunder- 



ANOMALOUS POSITION OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA. 99 

standing, dislike, and hatred. Another fruitful source of diffi- 
culty was the turbulent conduct of sailors. The French and 
English seamen at Whampoa, in 1754, carried their national 
hatred to such a degree that they could not pursue their trade 
without quarrelling ; and a Frenchman having killed an Eng- 
lish sailor, the Chinese stopped the trade of the former nation 
until the guilty person was given up, though he was subse- 
quently liberated. The Chinese allotted two different islands 
in the river at Whampoa for the recreation of the seamen of each 
nation, in order that such troubles might be avoided in future. 
A similar case occurred at Canton in, 1780, when a Frenchman 
killed a Portuguese sailor at night in one of the merchants' 
houses and fled to the consul's for refuge. The Chinese de- 
manded the criminal, and after some days he was given up to 
them and publicly strangled ; this punishment he no doubt mer- 
ited, although it was the first case in which they had interfered 
where the matter was altogether among foreigners. In 1784 
a native was killed by a ball left in a gun when firing a salute, 
and the Chinese, on the principle of requiring life for life, de- 
manded the man who had fired the gun. Knowing that the 
English were not likely to give him up, the police seized Mr. 
Smith, the supercargo of the vessel, and carried him a prisoner 
into the city. On the seizure of this gentleman the ships' 
boats were ordered up from Whampoa with armed crews to de- 
fend the factories. A messenger from the Chinese, however, 
declared that their purpose in seizing Smith was simply to ex- 
amine him on the affair, to which statement the captive him- 
self added a request that the gunner should be sent up to the 
authorities and submit to their questions. Trusting too much 
to their promises, the man was allowed to go alone before the 
officials within the city walls, when Mr. Smith was immediately 
liberated and the unhappy gunner strangled, after some six 
weeks' confinement, by direct orders of the Emperor. The 
man, probably, underwent no form of trial intelligible to him- 
self, and his condemnation was the more unjust, as by Section 
CCXCII. of the Chinese code he was allowed to ransom himself 
by a fine of about twenty dollars. As a counterpart of this 
tragedy, the Chinese stated (and there was reason for believing 



100 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

them) that a native who had accidentally killed a British sea- 
man about the same time was executed for the casualty. 

The Chinese mode of operations, when it was impracticable 
to get possession of the guilty or accused party, was well ex- 
hibited in the case of a homicide occurring in 1807. A party 
of sailors had been drinking at Canton, when a scuffle ensued, 
and the sailors put the populace to flight, killing one of the 
natives in the onset. The trade was promptly stopped, and the 
hong merchant who had secured the ship held responsible for 
the delivery of the offender. Eleven men were arrested and a 
court instituted in the Company's hall before Chinese judges, 
Captain Holies, of H. B. M. ship Lion, being present with, the 
committee. The actual homicide could not be found, but one 
Edward Sheen was detained in custody, which satisfied the 
Chinese while he remained in Canton ; but when the committee 
wished to take him to Macao with them they resisted, until 
Captain Holies declared that otherwise he should take the pris- 
oner on board his own ship, which he did. Being now beyond 
their reach, the authorities were fain to account for the affair 
to the supreme tribunal at the capital by inventing a tale, stat- 
ing that the prisoner had caused the death of a native by rais- 
ing an upper window and accidentally dropping a stick upon 
his head as he was passing in the street below. This statement 
was reported to his Majesty as having been concurred in by the 
English after a full examination of witnesses who attested to 
the circumstances ; the imperial rescript affirmed the sentence 
of the Board of Punishments, which ordered that the prisoner 
should be set at liberty after paying the usual fine of twenty 
dollars provided by law to defray the funeral expenses. The 
trade w T as thereupon resumed. 1 

Another case of homicide occurred at "Whampoa in 1820, 
when the authorities reported that the butcher of another ship, 
who had committed suicide the day of the inquest, was the 
guilty person. The court of directors very properly blamed 
their agents at Canton for their complicity in this subterfuge, 
and spoke of " the paramount advantages which must invari- 

1 Sir G. T. Staunton, Penal Code of China, p. 516. 



CHINESE ACTION IN CASES OF HOMICIDE. 101 

ably be derived from a strict and inflexible adherence to truth 
as the foundation of all moral obligations." 2 

Other cases of murder and homicide have since occurred be- 
tween foreigners and natives. In the instance of the British 
frigate Topaze at Lintin Island in 1822, whose crew had been at- 
tacked on shore, her captain successfully resisted the surrender 
of a British subject for the death of two natives in the affray. 
The dignified and united action of the British authorities on 
this occasion was a striking contrast to the weakness of the 
Americans the year before in the case of Terranova. It proved 
the beneficial results of a stand for the right, for no foreigner 
has since been executed by the Chinese. It also proved the 
necessity and advantages of competent interpreters and trans- 
lators, inasmuch as the case owed much of its success to Dr. 
Morrison's aid, which had been rejected by the hong merchants 
the previous year. 2 

These cases are brought together to illustrate the anomalous 
position which foreigners once held in China. They consti- 
tuted a community by themselves, subject chiefly to their own 
sense of honor in their mutual dealings, but their relations with 
the Chinese were like what lawyers call a " state of nature." 
The change of a governor-general, of a collector of customs, or 
senior hong merchant, involved a new course of policy accord- 
ing to the personal character of these functionaries. The com- 
mittee of the East India Company had considerable power over 
British subjects, especially those living in Canton, and could 
deport them if they pleased ; but the consuls of other nations 
had little or no authority over their countrymen. Trade was 
left at the same loose ends that politics w T ere, and the want of 
an acknowledged tariff encouraged smuggling and kept up a 
constant spirit of resistance and dissatisfaction between the na- 
tive and foreign merchants, each party endeavoring to get along 
as advantageously to itself as practicable. Nor was there any 
acknowledged medium of communication between them, for the 

1 Auber, China : An Outline of its Government, Laws, Policy, etc. , p. 286, 
London, 1834. 

2 Chinese Repository, Vol. II., pp. 513-515. Morrison's Memoirs, Vol. II, 
App., p. 10- Auber, China, its Government, etc., pp. 288-309. 



102 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

consuls, not being credited by the Chinese Government, came 
and went, hoisted or lowered their flags, without the slightest 
notice from the authorities. Trade could proceed, perhaps, 
without involving the nations in war, since if it was unprofitable 
it would cease ; but while it continued on such a precarious 
footing national character suffered, and the misrepresentations 
produced thereby rendered explanations difficult, inasmuch as 
neither party understood or believed the other. 

The death of the unfortunate gunner in 1784, and the large 
debts owed to the English by the hong merchants, which there 
seemed no probability of recovering, induced the British Govern- 
ment to turn its attention to the situation of the king's subjects in 
China with the purpose of placing their relations on a better 
footing. The flagitious conduct of a Captain M' Clary, who seized 
a Dutch vessel at Whampoa in 1781, which Davis narrates, 1 
and the inability of the Company to restrain such proceedings, 
also had its weight in deciding the crown to send an embassy to 
Peking. Colonel Cathcart was appointed envoy in 17S8, but his 
death in the Straits of Sunda temporarily deferred the mission, 
which was resumed on a larger scale in 1792, when the Earl of 
Macartney was sent as ambassador, with a large suite of able 
men, to place the relations between the two nations, if possible, 
on a well-understood and secure footing. Two ships were ap- 
pointed as tenders to accompany his Majesty's ship Lion (64), 
and nothing was omitted, either in the composition of the mis- 
sion or the presents to the Emperor, to insure its success. Lit- 
tle is known regarding its real impression upon the Chinese ; 
they treated it with great consideration while it remained in 
the country, although at an estimated cost of §850,000, and 
probably dismissed it with the feeling that it was one of the 
most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributary nation 
had ever paid their court. The English were henceforth re- 
gistered among the nations who had sent tribute-bearers, and 
were consequently only the more bound to obey the injunctions 
of their master. 2 

1 TJie Chinese, Vol. I., p. 63. 

2 SirG. L. Staunton, Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King oj 
Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 3 vols., London, 1798. 



EMBASSY OF LOED MACAKTXEY. 103 

To the European world, as well as to the British nation, how- 
ever, this expedition may be said to have opened China, so 
great was the interest taken in it and so well calculated were 
the narratives of Staunton and Barrow to convey better ideas 
of that remote country. ' ; Much of the lasting impression which 
the relations of Lord Macartney's embassy leave on the mind of 
his reader,'' to quote from a review of it, " must be ascribed, 
exclusive of the natural effect of clear, elegant, and able com- 
position, to the number of persons engaged in that business, 
the variety of their characters, the reputation they already en- 
joyed or afterward acquired ; the bnstle and stir of a sea voyage : 
the placidity and success which finally characterized the inter- 
course of the English with the Chinese ; the splendor of the 
reception the latter gave to their European guests ; the walks 
in the magnificent gardens of the * Son of Heaven ; ' the pic- 
turesque and almost romantic navigation upon the imperial 
canal; and perhaps, not less for the interest we feel for every 
grand enterprise, skilfully prepared, and which proves success- 
ful, partly in consequence of the happy choice of the persons 
and the means by which it was to be carried into effect." This 
impression of the grandeur and extent of the Chinese Empire 
has ever since more or less remained upon the minds of all 
readers of Staunton's narrative ; but truer views were imparted 
than had before been entertained concerning its real civilization 
and its low rank among the nations. 

That the embassy produced some good effect is undeniable, 
though it failed in most of the principal points. It also afforded 
the Chinese an opportunity of making arrangements concerning 
that future intercourse which they could not avoid, even if they 
would not negotiate, and of acquiring information concerning 
foreign nations which would have proved of great advantage to 
them. Their contemptuous rejection, ignorant though they 
decided to remain of the real character of these courtesies, 
of peaceful missions like those of Macartney, Titsingh, and 
others, takes away much of our sympathy for the calamities 
which subsequently came upon them. With characteristic 
shortsightedness they looked upon the very means taken to 
arrange existing ill-understood relations as a reason for consid- 



104 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ering those relations as settled to their liking, and a motive to 
still further exactions. 

For many years subsequent to this embassy the trade went 
on without interruption, though the demands and duties were 
rather increased than diminished, and the personal liberty of for- 
eigners more and more restricted. The government generally, 
down to the lowest underling, systematically endeavored to de- 
grade and insult foreigners in the eyes of the populace and citi- 
zens of Canton, in order, in case of any disturbance, to have their 
co-operation and sympathy against the "barbarian devils." 
The dissolute and violent conduct of many foreigners toward 
the Chinese gave them, alas, too many arguments for their as- 
persions and exactions, and both parties too frequently consid- 
ered the other fair subjects for imposition. 

In 1802 the English troops occupied Macao by order of the 
governor-general of India, lest it should be attacked by the 
French, but the news of the treaty of peace arriving soon after, 
they re-embarked almost as soon as the Chinese remonstrated. 
The discussion was revived, however, in 1808, when the French 
again threatened the settlement ; and the English, under Ad- 
miral Drury, landed a detachment to assist the Portuguese in 
defending it. The Chinese, who had previously asserted their 
complete jurisdiction over this territory, and which a little ex- 
amination would have plainly shown, now protested against the 
armed occupation of their soil, and immediately stopped the trade 
and denied provisions to the ships. The English traders were 
ordered by the Committee to go aboard ship, and the governor re- 
fused to have the least communication with the admiral until the 
troops were withdrawn. He attempted to proceed to Canton in 
armed boats, but was repulsed, and finally, in order not to implicate 
the trade any further (a step not at all apprehended in protecting 
the Portuguese), he wisely withdrew his troops and sailed for 
India. The success of the native authorities greatly rejoiced 
them ; a temple was built on the river's bank to commemorate 
their victory, and a fort, called " Howqua's Folly " by foreigners 
(since washed away), erected to guard the river at that point. 

The Chinese, ignorant of the principles on which international 
intercourse is regulated among western powers, regarded every 



ATTITUDE OF CHINESE TOWAED FOREIGN TRADERS. 105 

hostile demonstration between them in their waters as directed 
toward themselves, and demanding their interference. Though 
often powerless to defend themselves against their own piratical 
subjects, as has been manifested again and again — for ex- 
ample, in 1810, and also in 1660, when Koxinga ravaged the 
coast — they still assume that they are able to protect all for- 
eigners who " range themselves under their sway." This was 
exhibited in 1814, when the British frigate Doris, against all 
the acknowledged rights of a nation over its own waters, and 
simply because it could be done with impunity, cruised off the 
port of Canton to seize American vessels. The provincial au- 
thorities ordered the Committee to send her away, saying that if 
the English and Americans had any petty squabbles they must 
settle them between themselves and not bring them to China. 
The Committee stated their inability to control the proceedings 
of men-of-war, whereupon the Chinese began a series of annoy- 
ances against the merchants and shipping, prohibiting the em- 
ployment of native servants, entering their houses to seize 
natives, molesting and stopping ships' boats proceeding up and 
down the river on business, hindering the loading of the ships, 
and other like harassing acts so characteristic of Asiatic govern- 
ments when they feel themselves powerless to cope with the 
real object of their fear or anger. These measures proceeded at 
last to such a length that the Committee determined to stop the 
British trade until the governor would allow it to go on, as be- 
fore, without molestation, and they had actually left Canton for 
Whampoa, and proceeded down the river some distance, before 
he showed a sincere wish to arrange matters amicably. A depu- 
tation from each party accordingly met in Canton, and the prin- 
cipal points in dispute were at last gained. In this affair the 
Chinese would be adjudged to have been altogether in the right 
according to international law. At this time the governor- 
general conceded three important points to the Committee, viz., 
the right of corresponding with the government, under seal, in 
the Chinese language, the unmolested employment of native ser- 
vants, and the assurance that the houses of foreigners should not 
be entered without permission ; nor were these stipulations ever 
retracted or violated. 



106 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

The proceedings in this affair were conducted with no little 
apprehension on both sides, for the value of the traffic was of 
such importance that neither party could really think of stop- 
ping it. Besides the revenue accruing to government from 
duties and presents, the preparation and shipment of the articles 
in demand for foreign countries give employment to millions of 
natives in different parts of the Empire, and had caused Canton 
to become one of the greatest marts in the world. The governor 
and his colleagues were responsible for the revenue and peaceful 
continuance of the trade ; but through their ignorance of the 
true principles of a prosperous commerce, their fear of the conse- 
quences resulting from any innovation or change, or the least 
extension of privileges to the few half -imprisoned foreigners, 
they thought their security lay rather in restriction than in 
freedom, in a haughty bearing to intimidate, and not in concilia- 
tion to please their customers. On the other hand, the existence 
of the East India Company's charter depended in a good degree 
upon keeping a regular supply of tea in England, and therefore 
the success of the Committee's bold measure of stopping the 
trade depended not a little upon the ignorance of the Chinese 
of the great power a passive course of action would give them. 

The government at home, on learning these proceedings, re- 
solved to despatch another ambassy to Peking in order to state 
the facts of the case at court, and if possible agree upon some 
understood mode of conducting trade and communicating with 
the heads of government. Lord Amherst, who like Lord Ma- 
cartney had been governor-general of India, was appointed 
ambassador to Peking, and Henry Ellis and Sir George T. 
Staunton associated with him as second and third commission- 
ers. A large suite of able men, with Dr. Morrison, as principal 
interpreter, accompanied the ambassy, and the usual quantity 
and variety of presents. 1 The mission reached the capital 
August 28, 1816, but was summarily dismissed without an 
audience, because the ambassador would not perform the kotow 

1 Ellis, Embassy to China, London, 1840. Sir J. F. Davis, Sketches of China. 
2 Vols., London, 1841. Clarke Abel, Narrative of a Journey in the Interioi 
of China and a Voyage to and from that Country in 1816 and 1817, London, 
1818. R. Morrison, A View of China, etc., Macao, 1817. 



LORD AMHERST'S EMBASSY TO PEKING. 107 

or appear before his Majesty as soon as lie arrived ; the in- 
trigues of the authorities at Canton with the high officers about 
the Emperor to defeat the ambassy by deceiving their master 
have also been adduced as reasons for its failure. Its real fail- 
ure, as we can now see, was owing to the utter misconception 
of their true position by the Emperor and his officials, arising 
from their ignorance, pride, isolation, and mendacity, all com- 
bining to keep them so until resistless force should open them 
to meliorating influences. It was the last attempt of the kind, 
and three alternatives only remained : the resort to force to 
compel them to enter into some equitable arrangement, entire 
submission to whatever they ordered, or the withdrawal of all 
trade until they proposed its resumption. The course of events 
continued the second until the first was resorted to, and event- 
uated in laying open the whole coast to the enterprise of west- 
ern nations. 

At the close of the East India Company's exclusive rights 
in China, the prospect for the continuance of a peaceful trade 
was rather dubious. The enterprising Mr. Marioribanks des- 
patched a vessel to ascertain how far trade could be carried on 
along the coast, which resulted in satisfactorily proving that the 
authorities were able and determined to stop all traffic, how- 
ever desirous the people might be for it. The contraband trade 
in opium was conducted in a manner that threatened ere long to 
involve the two nations, but the Company nominally kept itself 
aloof from it by bringing none in its ships : the same Com- 
pany, however, did everything in India to encourage the 
growth and sale of the drug, and received from it at the time of 
its dissolution an annual revenue of nearly two millions sterling. 
During its whole existence in China the East India Company 
stood forward as the defenders of the rights of foreigners and 
humanity, in a manner which no community of isolated mer- 
chants could have done, and to some extent compelled the 
Chinese to treat all more civilly. As a body it did little for 
the encouragement of Chinese literature or the diffusion of 
Christian truth or of science among the Chinese, except the 
printing of Morrison's Dictionary and an annual grant to the 
Anglo-Chinese College ; and although Dr. Morrison was their 



108 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

official translator for twenty-five years, the directors never gave 
him the empty compliment of enrolling him in the list of their 
servants, nor contributed one penny for carrjdng on his great 
work of translating and printing the Bible in Chinese. They 
set themselves against all such efforts, and during a long exist- 
ence the natives of that country had no means put into their 
hands, by their agency, of learning that there was any great dif- 
ference in the religion, science, or civilization of European na- 
tions and their own. 

The trade of the Americans to China commenced in 1784, 
the first vessel having left Xew York February 22d of that 
year, and returned May 11, 1785 ; it was commanded by Cap- 
tain Green, and the supercargo, Samuel Shaw, on his return, 
gave a lucid narrative of his voyage to Chief Justice Jay. His 
journal, published in 1847, contains the only record of this 
voyage, and furnishes many curious facts about the political and 
social relations existing between foreigners then in China. Our 
trade with China steadily increased after this date, and has 
been the second in amount for many years. The only political 
event in the American intercourse up to 1842 was the suspen- 
sion of trade in October, 1821, in consequence of the homicide 
of a Chinese by a sailor at Whampoa. The American mer- 
chants were really helpless to carry the trial of Terranova to a 
just conclusion against the Chinese law, which peremptorily 
required life for life wherever foreigners were concerned, and 
gave him up on the assurance that his life was in no danger. 
They are stated, in a narrative published in the North American 
Review, to have told Howqua at the trial on board the Emily 
at Whampoa, " We are bound to submit to your laws while we 
are in your waters ; be they ever so unjust, we will not resist 
them." The poor man was taken out of the ship by force, 
while all the Americans present protested against the unfair 
trial he had had ; he was then promptly carried to Canton and 
strangled at the public execution ground (October 25) ; his body 
was given up next day, and the trade reopened. 1 

thaw's Journal, Boston, 1847. North American Review, January, 1835. 
Chinese Repository, September, 1836. Sir Geo. T. Staunton's Notices of China % 
second edition, pp. 409-432, 1850. 



AMERICAN TKADE WITH CHINA. 109 

The American Government neither took notice of this affair 
nor made remonstrance against its injustice, but still left the 
commerce, lives, and property of its citizens wholly unprotected, 
and at the mercy of Chinese laws and rulers. The consuls at 
Canton were merely merchants, having no salary from their 
government, no funds to employ interpreters when necessary, 
or any power over their countrymen, and came and went with- 
out the least notice or acknowledgment from the Chinese. 

The trade and intercourse of the Swedes, Danes, Prussians, 
Italians, Austrians, Peruvians, Mexicans, or Chilians, at Can- 
ton, have been attended with no peculiarities or events of any 
moment. None of these nations ever sent "tribute "to the 
court of the Son of Heaven, and their ships traded at Canton 
on the same footing with the English. The voyage of Peter 
Osbeek, chaplain to a Swedish East Indiaman, in 1753, con- 
tains considerable information relating to the mode of con- 
ducting the trade and the position of foreigners, who then 
enjoyed more liberty and suffered fewer extortions than in later 
years. 1 

The term fan-fcwei, by which they were all alike called by the 
Cantonese, indicated the popular estimation, and this epithet of 
'foreign devil ' did much, in the course of years, to increase the 
contempt and ill will which it expressed, not only there but 
throughout the Empire, for they were thereby maligned before 
they were known. Another term, i, has been raised into notice 
by its condemnation in the British Treaty as an epithet for 
British subjects or countries. This word, there rendered ' bar- 
barian,' conveys to a native but little more than the idea that 
the people thus called do not understand the Chinese language 
and usages, and are consequently less civilized. This epithet 
barbarian meant to the Greeks those who could not speak 
Greek, as it did to Shakspeare those who were not English ; 
likewise among the Chinese, under i were included great masses 
of their own subjects. By translating wai £ as ' outside bar- 
barians,'' foreigners have been misrepresented in the status they 



1 A Voyage to China and the East Indies, translated from the German by 
John R. Forster, 2 vols. , London, 1771. 



110 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

held among educated natives, which was not that of savages 
but of the illiteracy growing out of their ignorance of the 
language and writings of Confucius. 

The ancient Chinese books speak of four wild nations on the 
four sides of the country, viz., the fan, i, tiJi, man ; the first two 
seem to have been applied to traders from the south and west, 
and grew into more distinct expressions because these traders 
often acted so outrageously. Other terms, as " western ocean 
men," " far-travelled strangers," and " men from afar," have 
occasionally been substituted when i was objected to. When 
used as a general term, without an opprobrious addition, i is as 
well adapted as any to denote all foreigners ; but the most re- 
cent usage gives prominence to the terms wai Jcwoh and yangjdn 
(' outside country ' and ' ocean man ? ). Among educated natives 
the national names are becoming more and more common, as 
Ying kwoh, Fah Jcwoh, Mei kwoh, Teh Jcwoh, for England, 
France, America, Germany, etc. 



CHAPTER III. 

ORIGIN OP THE FIRST WAR WITH ENGLAND. 

The East India Company's commercial privileges ceased in 
1834, and it is worthy of note that an association should have 
been continued in the providence of God as the principal rep- 
resentative of Christendom among the Chinese, which by its 
character, its pecuniary interests, and general inclination was 
bound in a manner to maintain peaceful relations with them, 
while every other important Asiatic kingdom and island, from 
Arabia to Japan, was at one time or another during that period 
the scene of collision, war, or conquest between the nations and 
their visitors. Its monopoly ceased when western nations no 
longer looked upon these regions as objects of desire, nor went 
to Rome to get a privilege to seize or claim such pagan lands as 
they might discover, and when, too, Christians began to learn 
and act upon their duty to evangelize these ignorant races. 
China and Japan were once open to such agencies as well as 
trade, but no effective measures were taken to translate or dis- 
tribute the pure word of God in them. 

Believing that the affairs of the kingdoms of this world are 
ordered by their Almighty Governor with regard to the fulfil- 
ment of his promises and the promulgation of his truth, the 
first war between England and China is not only one of great 
historical interest, but one whose future consequences cannot 
fail to exercise increasing influence upon many millions of man- 
kind. This war was extraordinary in its origin as growing 
chiefly out of a commercial misunderstanding ; remarkable in 
its course as being waged between strength and weakness, con- 
scious superiority and ignorant pride ; melancholy in its end 
as forcing the weaker to pay for the opium within its borders 



112 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

against all its laws, thus paralyzing the little moral power its 
feeble government could exert to protect its subjects ; and mo- 
mentous in its results as introducing, on a basis of acknowl- 
edged obligations, one-half of the world to the other, without 
any arrogant demands from the victors or humiliating conces- 
sions from the vanquished. It was a turning-point in the na- 
tional life of the Chinese race, but the compulsory payment of 
six million dollars for the opium destroyed has left a stigma 
upon the English name. 

In 1834 the select Committee of the East India Company re- 
peated its notice given in 1831 to the authorities at Canton, 
that its ships would no longer come to China, and that a king's 
officer would be sent out as chief to manage the affairs of the 
British trade. The only " chief " whom the Chinese expected 
to receive was a commercial headman, qualified to communicate 
with their officers by petition, through the usual and legal 
medium of the hong merchants. The English Government 
justly deemed the change one of considerable importance, and 
concluded that the oversight of their subjects and the great 
trade they conducted required a commission of experienced men. 
The Kt. Hon. Lord Napier was consequently appointed as chief 
superintendent of British trade, and arrived at Macao July 15, 
1834, where were associated with him in the commission John 
F. Davis and Sir G. B. Robinson, formerly servants of the 
Company, and a number of secretaries, surgeons, chaplains, in- 
terpreters, etc., whose united salaries amounted to $91,000. 
On arriving at Canton the tide-waiters officially reported that 
three " foreign devils " had landed. As soon as Governor Lu 
had learned that Lord Napier had reached Macao, he ordered 
the hong merchants to go down and intimate to him that he 
must remain there until he obtained legal permission to come 
to Canton ; for, having received no orders from court as to the 
manner in which he should treat the English superintendent, 
he thought it the safest plan to adhere to the old regulations. 

Lord Napier had been ordered to report himself to the gover- 
nor at Canton by letter. A short extract from his instructions 
will show the intentions of the English Government in constitut- 
ing the commission, and the entirely wrong views it had of 



LORD NAPIER SUPERINTENDENT OF BRITISH TRADE. 113 

the notions of the Chinese respecting foreign intercourse, and 
the character they gave to the English authorities. Lord Pal- 
merston says : 

In addition to the duty of protecting and fostering the trade of his Ma- 
jesty's subjects with the port of Canton, it will be one of your principal objects 
to ascertain whether it may not be practicable to extend that trade to other 
parts of the Chinese dominions. . . . It is obvious that, with a view to the 
attainment of this object, the establishment of direct communications with 
the port of Peking would be desirable ; and you will accordingly direct your 
attention to discover the best means of preparing the way for such communi- 
cations, bearing constantly in mind, however, that peculiar caution and cir- 
cumspection will be indispensable on this point, lest you should awaken the 
fears Gr offend the prejudices of the Chinese Government, and thus put to 
hazard even the existing opportunities of intercourse by a precipitate attempt 
to extend them In conformity with this caution you will abstain from enter- 
ing into any new relations or negotiations with the Chinese authorities, except 
under very urgent and unforeseen circumstances. But if any opportunity for 
such negotiations should appear to you to present itself, you will lose no time 
in reporting the circumstance to his Majesty's government, and in asking 
for instructions ; but previously to the receipt of such instructions you will 
adopt no proceedings but such as may have a general tendency to convince the 
Chinese authorities of the sincere desire of the king to cultivate the most 
friendly relations with the Emperor of China, and to join with him in any 
measures likely to promote the happiness and prosperity of their respective 
subjects. 

Governor Lu's messengers arrived too late to detain the 
British superintendent at Macao, and a military officer des- 
patched to intercept him passed him on the way; so that the 
first intimation the latter received of the governor's disposition 
was in an edict addressed to the hong merchants, from which 
two paragraphs are extracted : 

On this occasion the barbarian eye, Lord Napier, has come to Canton 
without having at all resided at Macao to wait for orders ; nor has he requested 
or received a permit from the superintendent of customs, but has hastily come 
up to Canton— a great infringement of the established laws! The custom- 
house waiters and others who presumed to admit him to enter are sent with a 
communication requiring their trial. But in tender consideration for the said 
barbarian eye being a new-comer, and unacquainted with the statutes and laws 
of the Celestial Empire, I will not strictly investigate. . . . As to his object 
in coming to Canton, it is for commercial business. The Celestial Empire ap- 
points officers, civil ones to rule the people, military ones to intimidate the 
wicked. The petty affairs of commerce are to be directed by the merchants 
themselves : the officers have nothing to hear on the subject. ... If any 
affair is to be newly commenced, it is necessary to wait till a respectful me- 



114 .''HISTORY OF CHINA. 

niorial be made, clearly reporting it to the great Emperor, and his mandate be 
received ; the great ministers of the Celestial Empire are not permitted to 
have intercourse by letters with outside barbarians. If the said barbarian 
eye throws in private letters, I, the governor, will not at all receive or look at 
them. With regard to the foreign factory of the Company without the walls 
of the city, it is a place of temporary residence for foreigners coming to Can- 
ton to trade ; they are permitted only to eat, sleep, buy and sell in the facto- 
ries ; they are not allowed to go out to ramble about. 1 

How unlike were these two documents and the expectations 
of their writers ! The governor felt that it was safest to wait 
for an imperial mandate before commencing a new affair, and 
refused to receive a letter from a foreign officer. Had he done 
so he would have laid himself open to reprimand and perhaps 
punishment from his superiors ; and in saying that the superin- 
tendent should report himself and apply for a permit before 
coming to Canton, he only required what the members of the 
Company had always done when they returned from their sum- 
mer vacation at Macao. Lord Napier thought he had the same 
liberty to come to Canton without announcing himself that 
other and private foreigners exercised ; but an officer of his 
rank would have pleased the Chinese authorities better by ob- 
serving their regulations. He had thought of this contingency 
before leaving England, and had requested " that in case of 
necessity he might have authority to treat with the government 
at Peking ; " this request being denied, he desired that his ap- 
pointment to Canton might be announced at the capital ; this 
not being granted, he wished that a communication from the 
home authorities might be addressed to the governor of Can- 
ton ; but this was deemed inexpedient, and he was directed to 
u go to Canton and report himself by letter." These reasonable 
requests involved no loss of dignity, but the court of St. James 
chose to send out a superintendent of trade, an officer partaking 
of both ministerial and consular powers, and ordered him to 
act in a certain manner, involving a violation of the regulations 
of the country where he was going, without providing for the 
alternative of his rejection. 



1 Correspondence relating to China (Blue Book), p. 4. Chinese Repository, 
Vol. III., p. 188 ; Vol. XL, p. 188. 



HIS LETTER REJECTED BY GOVERNOR LIT. 115 

To Canton, therefore, he came, and the next day reported 
himself by letter to the governor, sending it to the city gates. 
His lordship was directed to have nothing to do with the hong 
merchants ; and therefore when they waited upon him the 
morning of his arrival, with the edict they had been sent down 
to Macao to " enjoin upon him," he courteously dismissed them, 
with an intimation that "he would communicate immediately 
with the viceroy in the manner befitting his Majesty's commis- 
sion and the honor of the British nation." The account of the re~ 
ception of his communication is taken from his correspondence : 

On the arrival of the party at the city gates, the soldier on guard was des- 
patched to report the circumstance to his superior. In less than a quarter of 
an hour an officer of inferior rank appeared, whereupon Mr. Astell offered my 
letter for transmission to the viceroy, which duty this officer declined, adding 
that his superior was on his way to the spot. In the course of an hour several 
officers of nearly equal rank arrived in succession, each refusing to deliver the 
letter on the plea that higher officers would shortly attend. After an hour's 
delay, during which time the party were treated with much indignity, not 
unusual on such occasions, the linguists and hong merchants arrived, who en- 
treated to become the bearers of the letter to the viceroy. About this time 
an officer of rank higher than any of those who had preceded him joined the 
party, to whom the letter was in due form offered, and as formally refused. 
The officer having seen the superscription on the letter, argued, that "as it 
came from the superintendent of trade, the hong merchants were the proper 
channels of communication : " but this obstacle appeared of minor importance 
in their eyes, upon ascertaining that the document was styled a letter, and not 
a petition. The linguists requested to be allowed a copy of the address, which 
was of course refused. 

About this time the Tcwang-Meh, a military officer of the rank of colonel, 
accompanied by an officer a little inferior to himself, arrived on the spot, to 
whom the letter was offered three several times and as often refused. The 
senior hong merchant, Howqua, after a private conversation with the colonel, 
requested to be allowed to carry the letter in company with him and ascertain 
whether it would be received. This being considered as an insidious attempt 
to circumvent the directions of the superintendents, a negative was made to 
this and other overtures of a similar tendency. Suddenly all the officers took 
their departure for the purpose, as it was afterward ascertained, of consulting 
with the viceroy. Nearly three hours having been thus lost within the city, 
Mr. Astell determined to wait a reasonable time for the return of the officers, 
who shortly afterward reassembled ; whereupon Mr. Astell respectfully offered 
the letter in question three separate times to the colonel and afterward to the 
other officers, all of whom distinctly refused even to touch it ; upon which the 
party returned to the factory. ! 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 27. 



116 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

The governor reported this occurrence at court in a memorial, 
in which, after stating that his predecessor had instructed the 
Company's supercargoes to make arrangements that " a tavpan 
[or supercargo, the word being applied to all foreign consuls] 
acquainted with affairs should still be appointed to come to 
Canton to control and direct the trade," he states what had oc- 
curred, and adds: 

The said "barbarian eye would not receive the hong merchants, but after-* 
ward repaired to the outside of the city to present a letter to me, your Majesty's 
minister, Lu. On the face of the envelope the forms and style of equality were 
used, and there were absurdly written the characters Ta Ting kwoh [' Great Eng- 
lish nation ']. Now it is plain on the least reflection, that in keeping the central 
and outside [people] apart, it is of the highest importance to maintain dignity 
and sovereignty. Whether the said barbarian eye has or has not official rank 
there are no means of thoroughly ascertaining. But though he be really an 
officer of the said nation, he yet cannot write letters on equality with the 
frontier officers of the Celestial Empire. As the thing concerned the national 
dignity, it was inexpedient in the least to allow a tendency to any approach or 
advance by which lightness of esteem might be occasioned. Accordingly orders 
were given to Han Shau-king, the colonel in command of the military forces 
of this department, to tell him authoritatively that, by the statutes and enact- 
ments of the Celestial Empire, there has never been intercourse by letters with 
outside barbarians ; that, respecting commercial matters, petitions must be 
made through the medium of the hong merchants, and that it is not permitted 
to offer or present letters. . . . On humble examination it appears that 
the commerce of the English barbarians has hitherto been managed by the 
hong merchants and taipans; there has never been a barbarian eye to form a 
precedent. Now it is suddenly desired to appoint an officer, a superintendent, 
which is not in accordance with old regulations. Besides, if the said nation 
has formed this decision, it still should have stated in a petition the affairs 
which, and the way how, such superintendent is to manage, so that a memorial 
might be presented requesting your Majesty's mandate and pleasure as to what 
should be refused, in order that obedience might be paid to it and the same be 
acted on accordingly. But the said barbarian eye, Lord Napier, without having 
made any plain report, suddenly came to the barbarian factories outside the 
city to reside, and presumed to desire intercourse to and fro by official docu- 
ments and letters with the officers of the Central Elowery Land ; this was, in- 
deed, far out of the bounds of reason. 1 

The governor here intimates that the intention of his govern- 
ment in requesting a tavpan to come to Canton was only to have 
a responsible officer with whom to communicate. In refusing 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 327. 



CONTEST BETWEEN THE GOVERNOR AND NAPIER. 117 

to receive an 'eye,' or superintendent, therefore, he did not, in his 
own view of the case, suppose that he was refusing, nor did he 
or the court of Peking intend to refuse, the residence of a super- 
cargo, for they were desirous to have responsible heads appointed 
over the commerce and subjects of every nation trading at 
Canton. These occurrences were discussed by the Hon. John 
Quincy Adams in his lecture upon the war with China, delivered 
in 1841, in which he alleged that the rejection of Lord Napier s 
letter and mission was a sufficient reason for the subsequent con- 
test. He showed the impolicy of allowing the Chinese ideas of 
supremacy over other nations, and exhibited their natural re- 
sults in the degraded position of foreigners. He had, however, 
only an imperfect conception of the strength of this assumption, 
but it was not debated in this contest between Governor Lu and 
Lord Napier. The former was not blameworthy for endeavor- 
ing to carry the laws of his own country into execution, while 
the latter was doing his best to obey the instructions of his own 
sovereign. The question of the propriety of those laws, involv- 
ing as they did the supremacy of the Emperor over the English, 
or the feasibility of those instructions, could only be discussed 
and settled by their principals. Whether this assumption was 
a proper ground of hostilities is altogether another question. 
When Lord Napier's letter was rejected he would probably have 
referred home to his government for further instructions if it 
had intended to settle the question of supremacy, but he did not 
do so, nor did the ministry refer to it or remonstrate against the 
unhandsome treatment their representative received. 

The refusal of Lord Napier to confer with the hong mer- 
chants, and of the governor to receive any communication ex- 
cept a petition, placed the two parties in an awkward position. 
In his letter the former stated the object of his coming to Can- 
ton, and requested that his excellency would accord him an in- 
terview in order that their future intercourse might be arranged ; 
and considering the desirableness of giving him accurate views, 
the party at the gate would have acted wisely in permitting the 
hong merchants to take it to him. The governor was irritated 
and alarmed, and vented his anger upon the unfortunate hong 
merchants. These had two or three interviews with Lord Na« 



118 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

pier after the rejection of the letter, but as they now said it 
would not be received unless superscribed pin, or c petition.* 
they were dismissed. Having heard that there was a party 
among the British residents in Canton who disapproved of the 
proceedings of the superintendent, they vainly endeavored to 
call a meeting of the disaffected on the 10th of August, while his 
lordship assembled all of his countrymen next day, and found 
that they generally approved of his conduct. On the 14th he 
reviews his position in consequence of the rejection of his letter 
and the subsequent conduct of the governor. After recom- 
mending the renewal of the effort to open better understood 
relations with the court of Peking by a demand upon the Em- 
peror to allow the same privileges to all foreigners residing in 
China which Chinese received in foreign countries, he goes on 
to say : 

My present position is, in one point of view, a delicate one, because the 
trade is put in jeopardy on account of the difference existing between the vice- 
roy and myself. I am ordered by his Majesty to " go to Canton and there re- 
port myself by letter to the viceroy." I use my best endeavors to do so ; but 
the viceroy is a presumptuous savage, and will not grant the same privileges 
to me that have been exercised constantly by the chiefs of the committee. 
He rakes up obsolete orders, or perhaps makes them for the occasion ; but 
the fact is, the chiefs used formerly to wait on the viceroy on their return 
from Macao, and continued to do it until the viceroy gave them an order to 
wait upon him, whereupon they gave the practice up. Had I even degraded 
the king's commission so far as to petition through the hong merchants for an 
interview, it is quite clear by the tenor of the edicts that it would have been 
refused. Were he to send an armed force and order me to the boat, I could 
then retreat with honor, and be would implicate himself; but they are afraid 
to attempt such a measure. What then remains but the stoppage of the trade 
or my retirement ? If the trade is stopped for any length of time the conse- 
quences to the merchants are most serious, as they are also to the unoffending 
Chinese. But the viceroy cares no more for commerce, or for the comfort 
and happiness of the people as long as he receives his pay and plunder, than 
if he did not live among them. My situation is different ; I cannot hazard 
millions of property for any length of time on the mere score of etiquette. If 
the trade shall be stopped, which is probable enough in the absence of the fri- 
gate, it is possible I may be obliged to retire to Macao to let it loose again. 
Then has the viceroy gained his point and the commission is degraded. Now, 
my lord, I argue that whether the commission retires by force of arms or by 
the injustice practised on the merchants, the viceroy has committed an outrage 
on the British crown which should be equally chastised. The whole system 
of government here is that of subterfuge and shifting the blame from the 



OPPOSITE VIEWS OF THE TWO PARTIES. 119 

shoulders of the one to the other. ... I shall not go, however, without 
publishing in Chinese and disseminating far and wide the base conduct of the 
viceroy in oppressing the merchants, native as well as foreign, and of my hav- 
ing taken the step out of pure compassion to them. I can only once more 
implore your lordship to force them to acknowledge my authority and the 
king's commission, and if you can do that you will have no difficulty in open- 
ing the ports at the same time. 1 

Such were the sentiments and desires which filled the mind 
of the English superintendent. He is in error in saying that 
the governor would not grant him the same privileges as had 
been accorded to the chiefs of the Company. The present ques- 
tion was not about having an interview, but regarding the 
superscription of his letter ; for the chiefs of the Company 
sent their sealed communications through the hong merchants 
as petitions. The governor stopped the English trade on the 
16th, and two days after issued an explanatory paper in reply 
to the report that his orders on that subject had been carried 
into effect. This document sets forth his determination to up- 
hold the old regulations, and a few sentences from it are here 
introduced as a contrast with the preceding despatch. The 
conviction of the governor in the supremacy of his Emperor 
over all foreign nations which had sent embassies to his court, 
and his own official position making him responsible for suc- 
cessfully maintaining the laws over foreigners, must be borne 
in mind : 

To refer to England : should an official personage from a foreign country 
proceed to the said nation for the arrangement of any business, how could he 
neglect to have the object of his coming announced in a memorial to the said 
nation's king, or how could he act contrary to the requirements of the said 
nation's dignity, doing his own will and pleasure? Since the said barbarian 
eye states that he is an official personage, he ought to be more thoroughly ac- 
quainted with these principles. Before, when he offered a letter, I, the gov- 
ernor, saw it inexpedient to receive it, because the established laws of the 
Celestial Empire do not permit ministers and those under authority to have 
private intercourse by letter with outside barbarians, but have, hitherto, in 
commercial affairs, held the merchants responsible ; and if perchance any bar- 
barian merchant should have any petition to make requesting the investigation 
of any affair, [the laws require] that by the said taipan a duly prepared 
petition should be in form presented, and an answer by proclamation awaited. 
There has never been such a thing as outside barbarians sending in a letter. 

1 Chinese Repository > Vol. XV., p. 68. 



120 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

He then says that there had never been any official corre- 
spondence to and fro between the native officers and the bar- 
barian merchants ; by this he means a correspondence oi 
equality, which the Chinese Government had indeed never 
yielded. The idea of supremacy never leaves him — witness, 
for example, the following strain, peculiarly Chinese : 

The hong merchants, because the said barbarian eye will not adhere to the 
old regulations, have requested that a stop should be put to the said nation's 
commerce. This manifests a profound knowledge of the great principles of 
dignity. It is most highly praiseworthy. Lord Napier's perverse opposition 
necessarily demands such a mode of procedure, and it would be most right 
immediately to put a stop to buying and selling. But considering that the 
said nation's king has hitherto been in the highest degree reverently obedient, 
he cannot in sending Lord Napier at this time have desired him thus obsti- 
nately to resist. The some hundreds of thousands of commercial duties yearly 
coming from the said country concern not the Celestial Empire the extent of 
a hair or a feather's down. The possession or absence of them is utterly un- 
worthy of one careful thought. Their broadcloths and camlets are still more 
unimportant, and of no regard. But the tea, the rhubarb, the raw silk of the 
Inner Land, are the sources by which the said nation's people live and main- 
tain life. For the fault of one man, Lord Napier, must the livelihood of the 
whole nation be precipitately cut off? I, the governor, looking up and em- 
bodying the great Emperor's most sacred, most divine wish, to nurse and ten- 
derly cherish as one all that are without, feel that I cannot bring my mind to 
bear it ! Besides, all the merchants of the said nation dare dangers, crossing 
the seas myriads of miles to come from far. Their hopes rest wholly in the 
attainment of gain by buying and selling. That they did not attend when 
summoned by the hong merchants to a meeting for consultation, was because 
they were under the direction of Lord Napier ; it assuredly did not proceed 
from the several merchants' own free will. Should the trade be wholly cut 
off in one morning, it would cause great distress to many persons, who, hav- 
ing travelled hither by land and sea, would by one man, Lord Napier, be 
ruined. They cannot in such case but be utterly depressed with grief. . . . 
I hear the said eye is a man of very solid and expansive mind and placid 
speech. If he consider, he can himself doubtless distinguish right and 
wrong : let him on no account permit himself to be deluded by men around 
him. . . . Hereafter, when the said nation's king hears respecting these 
repeated orders and official replies, [he will know] that the whole wrong lies 
on the barbarian eye ; it is in nowise owing to any want on the part of the 
Celestial Empire of extreme consideration for the virtue of reverential obedi- 
ence exercised by the said nation's king. J 

He consequently sent a deputation of officials to Lord Na- 
pier to inquire why he had come to Canton, what business he 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. IH. , p. 235. 



CHINESE IDEAS OF SUPREMACY. 121 

was appointed to perform, and when lie would retire to Macao. 
The letter was again handed them, but the superscription still 
remained, and they refused to touch it. They, however, learned 
enough to be able to inform their master what he wished to 
know : the real point of dispute between the two could only be 
settled between their sovereigns. The governor by this depu- 
tation showed a desire to make some arrangement, and the 
trade would probably have been shortly reopened had not Lord 
Napier carried out his idea, two days after, of appealing to the 
people in order to explain the reasons why the governor had 
stopped the trade and brought distress on them. The paper 
simply detailed the principal events which had occurred since 
his arrival, laying the blame upon the " ignorance and obsti- 
nacy " of the governor in refusing to receive his letter, and 
closing with — " The merchants of Great Britain wish to trade 
with all China on principles of mutual benefit ; they will never 
relax in their exertions till they gain a point of equal impor- 
tance to both countries ; and the viceroy will find it as easy to 
stop the current of the Canton River as to carry into effect the 
insane determination of the hong." 

In many of the former proceedings between the Chinese and 
foreigners, based as they were upon incorrect ideas, the rules of 
diplomacy elsewhere observed formed no guide ; but the pub- 
lication of this statement was unwise and dangerous. Not 
only did it jeopardize the lives and property of British subjects, 
but of all other foreigners residing at Canton, to whose safety 
and interests, as involved with his own dispute, Lord Napier 
makes no reference in his despatches. Happily, Governor Lu 
did not appease his irritation by letting loose the populace of 
Canton, which was highly excited, but by imprisoning mem- 
bers of the co-hong for" allowing the superintendent to come to 
the city. 

The governor and his colleagues stopped the English trade 
on September 2d, in a proclamation containing many inac- 
curate statements and absurd reasonings, in which he for- 
bade either natives or foreigners to give aid or comfort to Lord 
Napier. Communication with the shipping at Whampoa was 
also interdicted, so that, in reality, the entire foreign trade was 



122 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

interrupted. A guard of Chinese troops was placed near the 
Company's factory, but no personal distress was felt on account 
of the interdict. H. B. M. frigates Andromache and Iraogene 
were ordered up to protect the shipping and persons of British 
subjects, and the two vessels anchored at Whampoa on the 11th. 
In their passage through the Bogue they returned the fire from 
the forts, with little damage to either ; and on anchoring, a lieu- 
tenant and boat's crew were despatched to Canton to protect 
the English factory. These decisive proceedings troubled the 
native authorities not a little, who, on their part, prepared for 
stronger measures by blocking up the river and stationing 
troops about Whampoa, but were relieved when they found 
that the ships remained at their anchorage. 

Lord Napier sent a protest against the proceedings of the 
governor in stopping the trade, through the Chamber of Com- 
merce and hong merchants ; but at this juncture his health gave 
way so rapidly that three days after the frigates had anchored 
he decided to return to Macao and wait for instructions. The 
Chinese detained him on his passage down until the ships were 
out of the river ; but he sank and died October 11th, a fort- 
night after reaching that city. As soon as he left Canton the 
trade was reopened. On hearing that the ships had reached 
Whampoa, the Emperor degraded or suspended all the officials 
who had been in any way responsible ; but when he learned 
that " Lord Napier had been driven out, and the two ships of 
war dragged over the shallows and expelled," he restored most 
of those whom he had thus punished. The governor also vented 
his indignation upon ten of his subordinates, by subjecting them 
to torture in order to "ascertain if they were guilty of illicit 
connection with foreigners." The drama was closed on the part 
of the Chinese by an imperial mandate : " The English bar- 
barians have an open market in the Inner Land, but there has 
hitherto been no interchange of official communications. Yet 
it is absolutely requisite that there should be a person possess- 
ing general control, to have the special direction of affairs ; 
wherefore let the governor immediately order the hong mer- 
chants to command the said separate merchants, that they 
send a letter back to their country calling for the appoint 



STOPPING OF THE TRADE AND DEATH OF NAPIER. 123 

inent of another person as taipan, to come for the control 
and direction of commercial affairs, in accordance with the old 
regulations." 

The principles on which the Chinese acted in this affair are 
plainly seen. ' To have granted official intercourse by letter 
would have been to give up the whole question, to consider the 
king of England as no longer a tributary, and so release him 
and his subjects from their allegiance. To do so would not only 
permit them to come into their borders as equals, subject to no 
laws or customs, but would further open the door for resistance 
to their authority, armed opposition to their control, and ulti- 
mate in possession of their territory. The governor hints at 
this when speaking of the necessity of restraining the barbarian 
eye: "With regard to territory, it would also have its con- 
sequences." These would be the probable results of allowing 
such a mode of address from the Kalkas, or Tibetans, and the 
Emperor felt the importance of its concession in a way that 
Lord Napier himself could not appreciate. Nevertheless, with 
the inconsistency of children, the Son of Heaven and his cour- 
tiers, in the mandate just quoted, yield their obligations to justly 
govern the far-travelled strangers, by requiring them to get a 
countryman " to exercise general control " and live among them 
— thus establishing the principle of ex-territoriality within their 
borders which they now find so irksome. 

It is pitiable, and natural too, that the Chinese should 
have had notions so incorrect and dangerous, for it led them to 
misinterpret every act of foreigners. Their entire intercourse 
with Europeans, since the Portuguese first came to their shores, 
had conspired to strengthen the opinion that all traders were 
crafty, domineering, avaricious, and contumacious, and must 
be kept down in every possible way to insure safety to the 
Chinese natives. The indignation of the Emperor on hearing 
of the entrance of the ships of war was mixed with great ap- 
prehension, " lest there were yet other ships staying at a dis- 
tance ready to bring in aid to him " [Lord Napier]. Ignorant 
as he was of the true character of the embassies which had been 
received at Peking, he was still more likely to take alarm at any 
attempt to open an equal intercourse, and disposed to resist it as 



124 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

he would a forcible occupation of his territory, of which it was, 
in his view, only the precursor. 

That these were the feelings of the rulers at Peking cannot 
be doubted ; and we must know what views and fears actuated 
them in order to understand their proceedings. If the position 
of England in the eyes of the Chinese had been fully known in 
London, the unequal contest imposed upon Lord Xapier would 
either have been avoided or directed against the imperial gov- 
ernment. The offer of an amicable intercourse was given to 
the Chinese, but through the inapplicable instructions which 
his lordship received this offer was not made to the weaker and 
ignorant party in such a way as not to excite its fears, while it 
fully explained the real position and intentions of England, and 
through her all Christendom, in seeking intercourse with China. 
Yet so long as the court of Peking, in virtue of the Emperor's 
vicegerency over mankind, claimed supremacy over other na- 
tions, the struggle to maintain that assumption was sure to come. 
This false notion did, however, really continue among them for 
about forty years, till five foreign ministers had their first audi- 
ence with the Emperor Tungchi, June, 1873, and stood before 
his throne as they presented their credentials. 

The British residents at Canton saw the point of difficulty 
clearly, and in a petition to the king in council, dated December 
4, 1834, recommended that a commissioner be sent to one of the 
northern ports with a small fleet to arrange the matter of future 
intercourse. In this petition they " trace the disabilities and re- 
strictions under which British commerce now labors to a long 
acquiescence in the arrogant assumption of supremacy over the 
monarchs and people of other countries claimed by the Emperor 
of China for himself and his subjects," and conclude that "no 
essentially beneficial result can be expected to arise out of nego- 
tiations in which such pretensions are not decidedly repelled." 
The recommendations of the petitioners were disregarded in 
England. The cabinet disapproved of the spirit of Lord Xapier's 
despatches, and intimated to him that it was " not by force and 
violence that his Majesty intended to establish a commercial in- 
tercourse between his subjects and China, but by conciliatory 
measures." After the events of 1834 if a commissioner, backed 



PETITION OF BEITISH MERCHANTS TO THE Kl^a. 125 

by a small fleet, had been immediately appointed to Peking to 
arrange the terms of future intercourse, the subsequent war 
might have been averted, though it is more likely that the 
imperial court would have rejected all overtures until compelled 
to treat by force. 

As things were situated at Canton, it was really impossible for 
the Chinese Government to carry on a line of policy with respect 
to foreign intercourse which would at once maintain its assump- 
tions, avoid the risk of a rupture, squeeze all the money possi- 
ble out of the trade, and repress the complaints of the British 
merchants. The cessation of the Company's monopoly, as well 
as its control over all British subjects, had weakened the lever- 
age of the local authorities to manage them, to a greater degree 
than they were aware. 

The trade was conducted during the next season to the satis- 
faction of all parties. That of other nations had been practically 
stopped with that of the English, but the suspension was at a 
dull season of the year. Their consuls took no official part in 
the dispute, though they had some ground for complaint in the 
suspension of their trade and the imprisonment of their country- 
men. The Chinese shopkeepers known as "outside merchants" 
having been interdicted trading at all with foreigners, went to 
the governor's palace in a large body and soon obtained a re- 
moval of the restriction. The hong merchants themselves insti- 
gated this decree, for these shopkeepers, while deriving large 
profits from their business, were almost free from the extortions 
which the monopolists suffered. All the extraordinary expenses 
incurred by the provincial exchequer in the late affair were re- 
quired of these unfortunate men ; and they must get it out of 
the trade in the best way they could. Amelioration could not 
be expected from such a system ; for as soon as the foreigners 
began to complain, the hong merchants were impelled by every 
motive to misrepresent their complaints to the governor and 
quash every effort to obtain redress. The situation of foreigners 
there was aptly likened by a writer on the subject to the inmates 
of the Zoological Garden in Begent's Park : " They [the ani- 
mals] have been free to play what pranks they pleased, so that 
they made no uproar nor escaped from confinement. The keep- 



128 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

ers looked sharply after them and tried to keep them quiet, be* 
cause annoyed by the noise they made and responsible for the 
mischief they might commit if they got at liberty. They might 
do what was right in their own eyes with each other. The au- 
thorities of China do not expect from wild and restless bar- 
barians the decorum and conduct exemplified in their own great 
family." 

The peculiar position of the relations with the Chinese and the 
value of the trade, present and prospective, was so great that 
these events called out many pamphleteers both in England and 
the East. The servants of the Company naturally recommended 
a continuance of the peaceable system, urging that foreigners 
should obey the laws of the Empire where they lived and not 
interfere with the restrictions put upon them. Others counselled 
the occupation of an island on the coast, to which Chinese 
traders would immediately resort, and which was to be held 
only so long as the Emperor refused to open his ports and allow 
a fair traffic with his people. Others deprecated resort to force 
until a commissioner to Peking had explained the designs and 
wishes of his government, demanded the same privileges for 
foreigners in China that the Chinese enjoyed abroad, and then, 
in the event of a refusal, compel acquiescence. Some advised 
letting things take their own course and conducting trade 
as it could be at Canton until circumstances compelled the 
Chinese to act. " That which we now require is not to lose the 
enjoyment of what we have got," said the Duke of Wellington, 
and his advice was followed in most respects. A few thought it 
would be the wiser way to disseminate juster ideas of the position, 
power, and wishes of England and all foreign nations among the 
Chinese in their own language. They argued very properly that 
ignorance on these points would neutralize every attempt to 
bring about a better state of things ; that although the Chinese 
were to blame for their uncompromising arrogance, it was also 
their great misfortune that they really had had little opportunity 
to learn the truth respecting their visitors. All these sugges- 
tions looked forward to no long continuance of the present unde- 
fined, anomalous relations, and all of them contained much per- 
tinent advice and many valuable items of information ; but it 



CONTINUATION OF THE TRADE. 127 

was a question not more difficult than important what course of 
procedure was the best. While the point of supremacy seemed 
to be settled in favor of the Son of Heaven, the virus of the 
contraband opium trade was working out its evil effects among 
his subjects and hastening on a new era. 

The British superintendents now lived in Macao pending the 
action of their government, merely keeping a clerk at Canton 
to sign manifests. The foreign residents established the Society 
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and other benevolent 
projects mentioned in a previous chapter ; they also sent two 
or three vessels along the coast to see what openings existed for 
entering the country, preaching the gospel, or living on shore. 
The results of the voyages fully proved the impossibility of en- 
tering the country in an open manner without the permission 
of the rulers, and the limited intercourse with the people also 
showed that the character of foreigners was generally associated 
with the opium trade. The dwellers immediately on the coast 
were eager for an extension of the traffic, because it brought 
them large gains, and the officers at the principal ports were 
desirous of participating in the emoluments of their fellows 
at Canton ; but those who had the good of the country at 
heart (and there are many such in China) thought that the ex- 
tension of foreign trade would bring with it unmitigated evil 
from the increased use of opium. 

Sir G-. B. Robinson, the superintendent, remained at Lintin 
on board a cutter among opium ships anchored there during the 
season of 1835-36, and was so well satisfied with his position 
that he recommended his government to purchase a small ship 
for the permanent accommodation of the commission there be- 
yond the reach of the Chinese officers, and to vest its powers in 
a single individual. He also expressed his conviction that there 
was little hope of establishing a proper understanding with the 
Chinese Government, except by a resort to force and the occu- 
pation of an island off the mouth of the river : 

I see no grounds to apprehend the occurrence of any fearful events on 
the north-east coast, nor can I learn what new danger exists. I am assured 
from the "best authority that the scuffles between different parties of smugglers 
and mandarins, alike engaged and competing in the traffic, are not more seri* 



128 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ous or frequent than in this province. In no case have Europeans been en- 
gaged in any kind of conflict or affray : and while this increasing and lucrative 
trade is in the hands of the parties whose vital interests are so totally depend- 
ent on its safety and continuance, and by whose prudence and integrity it has 
been brought into its present increasing and flourishing condition, I think 
little apprehension may be entertained of dangers emanating from imprudence 
on their part. Should any unfortunate catastrophe take place, what would our 
position at Canton entail upon us but responsibility and jeopardy, from which 
we are now free ? On the question of smuggling opiam I will not enter in 
this place, though, indeed, smuggling carried on actively in the government 
boats can hardly be termed such. Whenever his Majesty's government directs 
us to prevent British vessels engaging in the traffic, we can enforce any order 
to that effect, but a more certain method would be to prohibit the growth of 
the poppy and the manufacture of opium in British India ; and if British 
ships are in the habit of committing irregularities and crimes, it seems doubly 
necessary to exercise a salutary control over them by the presence of an au- 
thority at Lintin. 



Taking all things into consideration, this is a remarkable de- 
spatch to be sent by the representative of a Christian govern- 
ment writing from the midst of a fleet of smugglers on the 
shores of a pagan country. " The souffles caused by the intro- 
duction of opium are," he remarks, " not more serious or fre- 
quent on the coast than about Canton ; " though even there, 
probably, not one-half which did occur were known; but Euro- 
peans never personally engaged in any of them. They only 
brought the cause and object of these collisions where the peo- 
ple could get it, and then quietly looked on to see them fight 
about it. The " prudence and integrity " of the merchants were 
engaged in cherishing it to a high degree of prosperity, and 
they were not likely to act imprudently. The orders of the 
supreme government for its officers on the coast to stop the 
traffic were utterly powerless, through the cupidity and venality 
of those officers and their underlings ; yet their almost com- 
plete failure to execute them does not impugn the sincerity of 
the court in issuing them. There is not the least evidence to 
show that the court of Peking was not sincere in its desire to 
suppress the trade, from the first edict in 1800 till the war broke 
out in 1840. The excuse that the government smuggled be- 
cause its revenue cruisers engaged in it and the helpless pro- 
vincial authorities winked at it, is no more satisfactory than to 



SIR GEORGE ROBINSON ON OPIUM-SMUGGLING. 129 

make the successful bribery of custom-house officers in England 
or elsewhere a proof of the corruption of the treasury depart- 
ment. The temptation of an " increasing and lucrative " trade 
was as strong to the unenlightened pagan Chinese smuggler as 
it Was to the Christian merchants and monopolists who placed 
the poisonous drug constantly within his reach. It would have 
been far more frank on the part of the British superintendent 
to have openly defended a traffic affording a revenue of more 
than two millions sterling to his own government, and sug- 
gested that such an " increasing and lucrative " business should 
not be impeded, than to say that he could stop British ships 
engaging in it as soon as he received orders to that effect. 

The existence of the commission at the outer anchorages was 
fully known to the authorities at Canton, but no movement 
toward reopening the intercourse was made by either party. 
Lord Palmerston instructed the superintendent not to com- 
municate with the governor-general through the hong mer- 
chants, nor to give his written communications the name of 
petitions. Captain Elliot succeeded Sir George in 1836, and 
immediately set about reopening the communication with the 
Chinese officers in the same way that the supercargoes of the 
Company had conducted it. He defended this course upon 
the grounds that he had no right to direct official communica- 
tion with the governor, and that the remarkable movements of 
the Chinese and the state of uncertainty in respect to the whole 
foreign trade rendered it desirable to be at Canton. The suc- 
cessor of Lu, Tang Ting-ching, willingly responded to this 
proposition by sending a deputation of three officers to Macao 
with the hong merchants to make some inquiries before memo- 
rializing the Emperor. In his report the governor avoided all 
reference to Lord Napier, and requested his Majesty's sanction 
to the present request as being in accordance with the orders 
that the English merchants should send home to have a super- 
cargo come out to manage them. It was of course granted ; 
and the British commission, having received a " red permit " 
from the collector of customs, returned to Canton April 12, 
1837, after an absence of about thirty months. In his note to 
the governor upon receiving the imperial sanction, Captain El- 



130 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Hot says : " The undersigned respectfully assures his excellency 
that it is at once his duty and his anxious desire to conform in 
all things to the imperial pleasure ; and he will therefore heed- 
fully attend to the points adverted to in the papers now before 
him." This language was decided, and his excellency after- 
ward called upon the superintendent to do as he had promised. 

The remarkable movements of the supreme government here 
referred to grew out of a memorial from Hii Nai-tsi, formerly 
salt commissioner and judge at Canton, proposing the legaliza- 
tion of the opium trade. In this paper he acknowledges that 
it is impossible to stop the traffic or use of the drug ; if the 
foreign vessels be driven from the coast, they will go to some 
island near by, where the native craft will go off to them ; and 
if the laws be made too severe upon those who smoke the drug 
they will be disregarded. By legalizing it, he says, the drain of 
specie will be stopped, the regular trade rendered more profit- 
able and manageable, and the consumption of the drug regulated. 
He proposes instant dismissal from office as the penalty for all 
functionaries convicted of smoking, while their present ineffec- 
tual attempts to suppress the trade, which resulted in general 
contempt for all law, would cease, and consequently the dignity 
of government be better maintained. The trade on the coast 
would be concentrated at Canton, and the fleet at Lintin broken 
up, thereby bringing all foreigners more completely under 
control. 

This unexpected movement at the capital caused no little stir 
at Canton, and the hong merchants presently advertised the for- 
eigners that soon there would no longer be any use for the re- 
ceiving-ships at Lintin. Captain Elliot wrote that he thought 
legalization had come too late to stop the trade on the coast, and, 
with a prescient eye, adds that the " feeling of independence 
created among British subjects from the peculiar mode of con- 
ducting this branch of the trade," would ere long lead to graver 
difficulties and acts of violence requiring the armed interference 
of his government. The impression was general at Canton 
that the trade would be legalized, and increased preparations 
were accordingly made in India to extend the cultivation. The 
governor and his colleagues recommended its legalization on the 



PEOPOSAL TO LEGALIZE THE OPIUM TEADE. 131 

grounds that " the tens of millions of precious money which 
now annually ooze out of the Empire will be saved," the duties 
be increased, the evil practices of transporting contraband goods 
by deceit and violence suppressed, numberless quarrels and liti- 
gations arising therefrom and the crimes of worthless vagrants 
diminished. They also deluded themselves with the idea that if 
the officers were dismissed as soon as convicted, the intelligent 
part of society would not indulge their depraved appetites, but 
let the " victims of their own self-sacrificing folly," the poor 
opium-smokers, be found only among the lower classes. In con- 
nection with this report, the hong merchants replied to various 
inquiries respecting the best mode of carrying on the opium 
trade in case it should be legalized, and their mode of conducting 
commerce generally ; adding that it was beyond their power to 
control the smuggling traffic or restrain the exportation of sycee, 
and showed that the balance of trade would naturally leave the 
country in bullion. These papers are fairly drawn up, and their 
perusal cannot fail to elevate the character of the Chinese for 
consideration, carefulness, and business-like procedure. 1 

There were other statesmen, however, who regarded Hii Nai- 
tsi's memorial as a dangerous step in the downward path, and 
sounded the alarm. Among these the foremost was Chu Tsun, 
a. cabinet minister, who sent in a counter-memorial couched 
in the strongest terms. He advised that the laws be more 
strictly maintained, and cited instances to show that when the 
provincial authorities earnestly set about it they could put the 
trade down ; that the people would soon learn to despise all laws 
if those against opium-smoking were suspended ; and that re- 
creant officers should be superseded and punished. His indig- 
nation warms as he goes on : " It has been represented that 
advantage is taken of the laws against opium by extortionate 
underlings and worthless vagrants, to benefit themselves. Is it 
not known, then, that when government enacts a law, there is 
necessarily an infraction of that law ? And though the law 
should sometimes be relaxed and become ineffectual, yet surely 
it should not on that account be abolished ; any more than we 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 139, 259, 385 ff. 



132 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

should altogether cease to eat because of stoppage of the throat 
The laws which forbid the people to do wrong may be likened 
to the dikes which prevent the overflowing of water. If any 
one urging, then, that the dikes are very old and therefore use- 
less, we should have them thrown down, what words could ex- 
press the consequences of the impetuous rush and all-destroying 
overflow ! Yet the provincials, when discussing the subject of 
opium, being perplexed and bewildered by it, think that a pro- 
hibition which does not utterly prohibit is better than one which 
does not effectually prevent the importation of the drug. . . . 
If we can but prevent the importation of opium, the exportation 
of dollars will then cease of itself, and the two offences will both 
at once be stopped. Moreover, is it not better, by continuing the 
old enactments, to find even a partial remedy for the evil, than by 
a change of the laws to increase the importation still further ? " 
He then proceeds to show that the native article could not 
compete with the foreign, for it would not be as well manufac- 
tured, and moreover " all men prize what is strange and under- 
value whatever is in ordinary use." Its cultivation would occupy 
rich and fertile land now used for nutritive grains : " To draw 
off in this way the waters of the great fountain requisite for the 
production of food and raiment, and to lavish them upon the 
root whence calamity and disaster spring forth, is an error like 
that of the physician who, when treating a mere external disease, 
drives it inward to the heart and centre of the body. Shall 
the fine fields of Kwangtung, which produce their three crops 
every year, be given up for the cultivation of this noxious weed ? " 
He says the question does not concern property and duties, but 
the welfare and vigor of the people ; and quotes from the His- 
tory of Formosa a passage showing the way in which the natives 
there were enervated by using it, and adds that the purpose of 
the English in introducing opium into the country has been to 
weaken and enfeeble it. Kanghi long ago (1717) remarked, he 
observes, " There is cause for apprehension, lest in the centuries 
or millenniums to come China may be endangered by collisions 
with the various nations of the "West who come hither from 
beyond the seas." And now, in less than two centuries, " we see 
the commencement of that danger which he apprehended." 



CHU TSUN OPPOSES THE PROPOSITION. 133 

The suggestion of Hii Xai-tsi, to allow it to the people and 
interdict the officers, is called bad casuistry, " like shutting a 
woman's ears before you steal her earrings." He shows that 
this distinction will be vain, for it will be impossible to say who 
is of the people and who are officers, for all the latter are taken 
from the body of the former. The permission will induce peo- 
ple to use it who now refrain from fear of the laws ; for even 
the proposal has caused " thieves and villains on all hands to 
raise their heads and open their eyes, gazing about and pointing 
the finger under the notion that when once these prohibitions 
are repealed, thenceforth and forever they may regard them- 
selves far from every restraint and cause of fear." He asserts 
that nothing but strong laws rigidly carried into effect will re- 
strain them from their evil ways, and concludes by recommend- 
ing increased stringency in their execution as the only hope of 
reformation. 

This spirited paper was supported by another from a sub-cen- 
sor, Hii Kiu, on the necessity of checking the exportation of 
silver, and recommending that a determined officer be sent to 
punish severely the native traitors, which would add dignity to 
the laws ; and then the barbarians would be awed and conse- 
quently reform and be entirely defeated in their designs of con- 
quering the country. He cites several instances of their out- 
rageous violation of the law r s, such as levelling graves in Macao 
for the purpose of making a road over them, landing goods 
there for entering them at Canton in order to evade the duties 
and port charges, and even riding in sedans with four bearers, 
like Chinese officers. Force needed only to be put forth a little 
and they would again be humbled to subjection ; but if they 
still brought the pernicious drug, then inflict capital punishment 
upon them as well as upon natives. The sub-censor agrees with 
Chu Tsun regarding the designs of foreigners in doing so, that 
they wished first to debilitate and impoverish the land as a pre- 
paratory measure, for they never smoked the drug in their own 
country, but brought it all to China. This prevailing impres- 
sion was derived mainly from the abstinence of foreigR mer- 
chants and seamen. 

Both these papers were transmitted to Canton for deliberation, 



134 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

although the local officers had already sent a memorial to the 
cabinet approving the suggestions of Hti Kai-tsi. At this time, 
however, it was properly remarked that " there had been a di- 
versity of opinion in regard to it, some requesting a change in 
the policy hitherto adopted, and others recommending the con- 
tinuance of the severe prohibitions. It is highly important to 
consider the subject carefully in all its bearings, surveying at 
once the whole field of action so that such measures may be 
adopted as shall continue forever in force, free from all failure. 5 ' 
This subject, the most important, it cannot be doubted, which 
had ever been deliberated upon by the Emperor of China and 
his council, was now fairly brought before the whole nation : 
and if all the circumstances be taken into consideration, it was 
one of the most remarkable consultations of any age or country. 
A long experience of the baneful effects of opium-smoking upon 
the health, minds, and property of those who used it, had pro- 
duced a deep conviction in the minds of well-wishers of their 
country of the necessity of some legal restraint over the people ; 
while the annual drainage of specie at the rate of three or four 
million sterling for what brought misery and poverty in its 
train, alarmed those who cared only for the stability and pros- 
perity of the country. The settlement or management of the 
question was one of equal difficulty and importance, and the 
result proved that it was quite beyond the reach of both their 
power and wisdom. Fully conscious of the weak moral prin- 
ciple in themselves and in their countrymen, they considered it 
right to restrain and deter the people by legislative enactments 
and severe penalties. Ignorant of the nature of commercial 
dealings, they thought it both practicable and necessary to limit 
the exportation of specie ; for not having any substitute for 
coin or any system of national credit, there was serious hazard, 
otherwise, that the government would ultimately be bankrupted. 
It is unjust to the Chinese to say, as was argued by those who 
had never felt these sufferings, that all parties were insincere in 
their efforts to put down this trade, that it was a mere affectation 
of morality, and that no one would be more chagrined to see it 
stop than those apparently so strenuous against it. This asser- 
tion was made by Lord Palmerston in Parliament and re-echoed 



THE MATTER REFERRED TO CANTON. 135 

by the Indian officials ; but those who have candidly examined 
the proceedings of the Chinese, or have lived among the people 
in a way to learn their real feelings, need not be told how incor- 
rect is the remark. The highest statesman and the debilitated, 
victimized smoker alike agreed in their opinion of its bad effects, 
and both were pretty much in the position of a miserable lamb 
in the coil of a hungry anaconda. 

The debate among the Chinese excited a discussion among 
foreigners, most of whom were engaged in the traffic. Here 
the gist of the question turned upon the points whether opium 
was really a noxious stimulant per se, and whether the Chinese 
government was sincere in its prohibitions in the face of the 
notorious connivance of the officers along the coast from Hainan 
to Tientsin. One writer conclusively proved its baneful effects 
upon the system when taken constantly, and that its habitual 
use in the smallest degree almost certainly led to intemperate or 
uncontrollable use ; he then charges the crime of murder upon 
those who traffic in it, and asserts that " the perpetuating and 
encouraging and engaging in a trade which promotes disease, 
misery, crime, madness, despair, and death, is to be an accom- 
plice with the guilty principals in that tremendous pursuit." He 
exposes the fallacy, hypocrisy, and guilt of the question whether 
it be less criminal for a man to engage in a pursuit which he 
knows to be injurious to his fellow-men, because if he does not 
do so some one else will. The Court of Directors, even, whom 
all the world knows to be chief managers of the cultivation, 
manufacture, and sale of the drug, says in one of its despatches 
that " so repugnant are their feelings to the opium trade, they 
would gladly, in compassion to mankind, put a total end to the 
consumption of opium if they could. But they cannot do this, 
and as opium will be grown somewhere or other, and will be 
largely consumed in spite of all their benevolent wishes, they 
can only do as they do" ! 

Another Englishman engaged in the traffic defended it on 
the ground that what is bad now was always bad ; and the Em- 
peror and his ministers had doubtless other grounds for their 
sudden opposition. He asserts that opium is " a useful soother, 
a harmless luxury, and a precious medicine, except to those who 



136 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

abuse it," and that while a few destroy themselves, the prudent 
many enjoy a pleasing solace, to get which tends to produce the 
persevering economy and the never-ceasing industry of the 
Chinese. He estimates that at a daily allowance of one and one- 
third ounce not more than one person in three hundred and 
twenty-six touches the pipe, and that there were not more than 
nine hundred and twelve thousand victimized smokers in the 
Empire. He also remarked that the present mode of conduct- 
ing the trade by large capitalists kept it respectable, and that if 
their characters were held up to odium and infamy it would get 
into the hands of desperadoes, pirates, and marauders. He 
looked upon the efforts to put it down as utterly futile as the 
proclamations of Elizabeth were to put down hops, or the Coun- 
terblaste of James to stop tobacco. 

This rejoinder was responded to by two writers, who clearly 
exhibited its unsoundness and ridiculed the plea that the trade 
should be kept in the hands of gentlemen and under the direc- 
tion of a monopoly. The smuggler brought his vessel on the 
coast, and there waited till the people came off for his merchan- 
dise, disposing of it without the least risk to himself, " coolly 
commenting on the injustice of the Chinese government in re- 
fusing the practice of international law and reciprocity to coun- 
tries whose subjects it only knows as engaged in constant and 
gross infraction of laws, the breaking of which affects the basis 
of all good government, the morals of the country." The true 
character of the smuggling trade is well set forth : 

Reverse the picture. Suppose, by any chance, that Chinese junks were to 
import into England, as a foreign and fashionable luxury, so harmless a thing 
as arsenic or corrosive sublimate ; that after a few years it became a rage ; that 
thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands used it, and that its use was, in conse- 
quence of its bad effects, prohibited. Suppose that, in opposition to the pro- 
hibition, junks were stationed in St. George's Channel with a constant supply, 
taking occasional trips to the Isle of Wight and the mouth of the Thames when 
the officers were sufficiently attentive to their duty at the former station to pre- 
vent its introduction there. Suppose the consumption to increase annually, 
and to arouse the attention of the government and of those sound-thinking 
men who foresaw misery and destruction from the rapid spread of an insidious, 
unprofitable, and dangerous habit. Suppose, in fact, that, mutato nomine, all 
which has been achieved here had been practised there. Suppose some con- 
servators of the public morals to be aroused at last, and to remonstrate against 



DISCUSSION AMONG THE FOREIGNERS. 137 

its use and increase ; and that among the nation sending forth this destroyer 
to prey on private happiness and public virtue, one or two pious and well- 
meaning bonzes were to remonstrate with their countrymen on the enormity of 
their conduct :— how wonderfully consolatory to one party, and unanswerable 
to the other, must be the remark of the well-dressed and well-educated Chinese 
merchant : ' ' Hai ya ! my friend, do not you see my silk dress and the crystal 
knob on my cap ; don't you know that I have read and can quote Confucius, 
Mencius, and all the Five Books ; do you not see that the barbarians are pas- 
sionately fond of arsenic, that they will have it, and even go so far as to pay for 
it ; and can you, for one moment, doubt that it would not be much worse for 
them if, instead of my bringing it, it were left to the chance, needy, and un- 
certain supply which low men of no capital could afford to bring ? " ' 

The writer shows that instead of only one person in every 
three hundred and twenty-six using the pipe, it was far more 
probable that at least one out of every one hundred and fifty 
(or about two million five hundred thousand in all) of the popu- 
lation was a victimized smoker. The assertion of its being a 
harmless luxury to the many, like wine or beer, is disputed, and 
the sophisticated argument of its use as a means of hospitality 
exploded. " What would a benevolent and sober-minded 
Chinese think," he asks, " were the sophistry of the defenders 
of this trade translated for him ? Where would he find the 
high-principled and high-minded inhabitants of the far-off 
country ? How could he be made to comprehend that the be- 
lievers in and practisers of Christian morality advocated a trade 
so ruinous to his country ? That the government of India com- 
pelled the growth of it by unwilling ryots ; and that, instead of 
its being brought to China by 4 desperadoes, pirates, and marau- 
ders,' it was purveyed by a body of capitalists, not participating 
certainly in what they carry, but supplying the Indian revenue 
safely and peaceably ; that the British government and others 
encouraged it ; and that the agents in the traffic were constant- 
ly residing at Canton, protected by the government whose 
laws they outraged, but monstrously indignant, and appealing to 
their governments, if No. 2 longcloths are classed as No. 1 
through the desperate villany of some paltry custom-house 
servant ? " 

The other writer exposes the sinful fallacy of the argument 

1 Chinese Repository \ Vol V., p. 409. 



138 HISTORY OF CHINA. _ 

of expediency, and then proceeds to show how great an ob- 
stacle it is in the way of diffusing the gospel among the 
Chinese. We must refer to their own remarks 1 for the fuller 
development of the arguments, but this one showed the earn- 
estness of his convictions by offering a premium of £100 for 
the best essay " showing the effects of the opium trade on the 
commercial, political, and moral interests of the nations and 
individuals connected therewith, and pointing out the course 
they ought to pursue in regard to it." There was, however, so 
little interest in the subject that this premium was never 
awarded, though the proposal was extensively advertised both 
in China and England. 

The governor of Canton and his colleagues soon learned that 
the feeling at court was rather against legalizing the drug, 
though they were directed to report concerning the amount of 
duty proper to be levied on it ; and to show their zeal, arrested 
several brokers and dealers. A-ming, one of the linguists, was 
severely tortured and exposed in the cangue for exporting 
sycee ; others escaped similar treatment by absconding. The 
chief superintendent naively expressed his opinion that " the 
legalization of the trade in opium would afford his Majesty's 
government great satisfaction," but suggested that the gradual 
diversion of British capital into other channels would be at- 
tended with advantageous consequences. To one situated be- 
tween his own government, which promoted the preparation 
and importation of opium, and the Chinese government, which 
was now making extraordinary efforts to regulate it, and 
deeply sensible of the injury resulting from its use to the 
people around him, and to the reputation of his own and all 
foreign nations from the constant infraction of the laws, the pro- 
posed step of legalization offered a timely relief. No one was 
more desirous of putting a stop to this destructive traffic than 
Captain Elliot, but knowing the impossibility of checking it by 
laws, he naturally wished to see the multitude of political and 
commercial evils growing out of smuggling done away with. 
There were, indeed, many things to urge in favor of this 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 407, 413, and passim. 



THE PEOHIBITORY LAWS ENFOKCED. 139 

course ; but the fact ought never to be lost sight of, and be 
mentioned to the lasting credit of the Emperor Taukwang and 
his advisers, in the midst of their perplexity and weakness, that 
he would not admit opium because it was detrimental to his 
people. 

The conflict was now fairly begun ; its issue between the 
parties, so unequally matched — one having almost nothing but 
the right on its side, the other assisted by every material and 
physical advantage — could easily be foreseen. Captain Elliot, 
as the recognized head of the British trade, received an order 
through the hong merchants from the provincial authorities to 
drive away the receiving-ships from Lintin, and send the Em- 
perors commands to his king, that henceforth they be prohib- 
ited coming. He replied that he could not transmit any orders 
to his own sovereign which did not come to him direct from 
the government, and quoted the recent instance of the gover- 
nor-general of Fuhkien communicating directly with the cap- 
tain of a British ship of war. The governor was therefore 
forced to send his orders to the prefect and colonel of the 
department to be enjoined on Captain Elliot. He replied by 
promising to send it to his country, and adds, in true diploma- 
tic style, unworthy of himself and his nation : " He has already 
signified to your excellency, with truth and plainness, that his 
commission extends only to the regular trade with this Empire ; 
and further, that the existence of any other than this trade has 
never yet been submitted to the knowledge of his own gracious 
sovereign." Captain Elliot transmitted with these " orders " a 
minute account of the condition of the opium trade, and a 
memorandum respecting the desirableness of opening communi- 
cation with the court. Lord Palmerston, in reply, intimates 
that "her Majesty's government do not see their way in such a 
measure with sufficient clearness to justify them in adopting it 
at the present moment." He adds that no protection can be 
afforded to " enable British subjects to violate the laws of tlie 
country to which they trade. Any loss, therefore, which such 
persons may suffer in consequence of the more effectual execu- 
tion of the Chinese laws on this subject, must be borne by 
the parties who have brought that loss on themselves by 



140 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their own acts." A most paradoxical but convenient position 
for this " honorable " officer of the English government to as- 
sume, and worthy to be recorded in contrast to the utterances 
from Peking. 

Near the close of 1837 the British flag was again hauled 
down at Canton, and the superintendent returned to Macao be- 
cause he refused to superscribe the word pin, or ' petition,' upon 
his communications, according to his instructions, and the gov- 
ernor declined to receive them without it. In July, 1838, Sir 
Frederick Maitland arrived in the Wellesley (74), and was 
brought into correspondence with the Chinese Admiral Kwan, 
inconsequence of the forts firing upon an English schooner 
passing the Bogue and stopping her to inquire whether he or 
any of his crew or women were on board. The Wellesley and 
her two consorts were anchored near the forts, and the Chinese 
admiral made a full apology for the mistake ; his conduct in 
the affair was very creditable both to his judgment and tem- 
per. As soon as Sir Frederick arrived, Captain Elliot vainly 
endeavored to reopen correspondence with the governor by 
sending an open letter to the city gates, which was received 
and taken to him, but returned in the evening because it had 
not the required superscription. 

Having now fully taken the sense of the Empire in the re- 
plies received from all its highest officials, the Emperor Tau- 
kwang increased his efforts to suppress the trade. In April, 
1S38, a native named Kwoh Si-ping was publicly strangled at 
Macao by express command of the Emperor, as a warning to 
others not to engage in exporting sycee or introducing opium. 
The execution was conducted by the district magistrate and sub- 
prefect with dignity and order in the presence of a crowd of 
natives and foreigners. More than fifty small craft under the 
English or American flag were constantly plying off the port of 
Canton, most of them engaged in smuggling. Sometimes the 
government exerted its power ; boats were destroyed, smugglers 
seized and tortured, and the sales checked ; then it went on again 
as briskly as ever. These boats were easily caught, for the 
government could exercise entire control over its own subjects ; 
but when the foreign schooners, heavily armed and manned, 



INCREASE OF SMUGGLING AND AFFRAYS. 141 

sailed up and down the river delivering the drug, the revenue 
cruisers were afraid to attack them. The hong merchants ad- 
dressed a note to all foreign residents concerning them, the close 
of which vividly exhibits their unlucky position as the " respon- 
sible advisers " of the barbarians : " Lately we have repeatedly 
received edicts from the governor and hoppo severely reprimand- 
ing us ; and we have also written to you, gentlemen of the dif- 
ferent nations, several times, giving you full information of the 
orders and regulations, that you might perfectly obey them and 
manage accordingly ; but you, gentlemen, continue wholly re- 
gardless." 

Collisions became more and more frequent between the Chinese 
and their rulers, in consequence of the increased stringency of 
the orders from court. In September, in an affray near Wham- 
poa between the military and villagers, several persons were 
killed and scores arrested. The retailers at Canton were im- 
prisoned, and those found in other places brought there in 
chains. In liupeh it was reported that the officers had pun- 
ished arrested smokers by cutting out a portion of the upper lip 
to incapacitate them from using the pipe. Still, such was the 
venality of the officers that even at this time the son of Gov- 
ernor Tang himself was engaged in the traffic, and many of the 
underlings only seized the drug from the smuggling-boats to re- 
tail it themselves. The memorial of Hwang Tsioh-tsz', advising 
the penalty of death, was promulgated in Canton ; and the 
Emperor's rescript urged to stronger measures. In a rapid sur- 
vey of the ill effects from the use of the drug, Hwang acknowl- 
edges that it had extended to Manchuria, and pervaded all ranks 
of official and humble life. The efflux of silver " into the in- 
satiate depths of transmarine regions " had caused the rate of 
exchange for cash to rise until it was difficult to carry on the 
business of government. He then reviews the different plans 
proposed for checking the cause of all this evil, such as guarding 
the ports, stopping the entire foreign trade, arresting the smug- 
glers, shutting up the shops, and, lastly, encouraging the home 
growth. He confesses that the bribes paid the coast-guard ser- 
vice and the maritime officers are so great as entirely to prevent 
their vigilance; and that the home-prepared drug does not yield 



142 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

the same stimulus as the foreign article. As a last resort, he 
proposes to increase the penalties upon the consumers, laying all 
the blame upon them, and advises death to be awarded all who 
smoke opium after a year's warning has been given them. The 
well-known subdivision of responsibility was to be made doubly 
.strong by requiring bonds of every tithing and hundred that there 
were no smokers within their limits. Officers found guilty were 
not only to be executed, but their children deprived of the privi- 
lege of competing at the public examination. One cannot with- 
hold a degree of sympathy for the helpless condition of the 
officers and statesmen of a great Empire sincerely desirous of 
doing their country service, and yet so sadly ignorant of their 
false position by their assumption of supremacy over the very 
nation whom they could not restrain, and whose officials they 
rejected for a formality. They might as well have tried to 
concert a measure to stop the Yangtsz' River in its impetuous 
flow, as to check the opium trade by laws and penalties. 

On December 3, 1838, about two peculs of opium were 
seized while landing at the factories, and the coolies carried 
into the city. They declared that they had been sent to 
Whampoa by Mr. Innes, a British merchant, to obtain the 
opium from an American ship consigned to Mr. Talbot. The 
governor ordered the hong merchants to expel these two gentle- 
men and the ship within three days, on the garbled testimony 
of the two coolies. Mr. Talbot sent in a communication, stat- 
ing that neither the ship nor himself had anything to do with 
the opium, and obtained a reversal of the order to leave. The 
hong merchants were justly irritated, and informed the Cham- 
ber of Commerce that they would not rent their houses to any 
who would not give a bond to abstain from such proceedings, 
and refusing to open the trade until such bonds were given ; 
they furthermore declared their intention to pull Mr. Innes' 
house down if he refused to depart. The Chamber protested 
that " the inviolability of their personal dwellings was a point 
imperatively necessary " for their security ; the hong merchants 
then resorted to entreaty, stating their difficult position be- 
tween their own rulers on one side, who held them responsible 
for executing their orders, and the foreigners on the other, over 



TKADE STOPPED AT CANTON. 143 

whom they had little or no power. The Chamber could only 
express its regret at the unjust punishment inflicted on a hong 
merchant, Punhoyqua, for this, and reassert its inability to con- 
trol the acts of any foreigner. 

The governor had put himself in this helpless condition by 
refusing Captain Elliot's letters ; and it is remarkable that he 
hesitated to arrest Mr. Innes, when one word would have set 
the populace on the factories and their tenants, and destroyed 
them all. As an alternative, he now resolved to show foreign- 
ers what consequences befel natives who dealt in opium ; and 
while Mr. Innes still remained in Canton, he sent an officer 
with fifteen soldiers to execute Ho Lau-kin, a convicted dealer, 
in front of the factories. The officer was proceeding to carry 
his orders into effect near the American flag-staff, when the 
foreigners sallied out, pushed down the tent he was raising, and 
told him in loud tones not to execute the man there. Quite 
unprepared for this opposition, he hastily gathered up his im- 
plements and went into a neighboring street, where the man 
was strangled. Meanwhile a crowd collected to see these ex- 
traordinary proceedings, whom the foreigners endeavored to 
drive away, supposing that a little determination would soon 
scatter them. Blows, however, were returned, the foreigners 
driven into their factories, and the gates shut ; the crowd had 
now become a mob, and under the impression that two natives 
had been seized, they began to batter the fronts and break the 
windows with stones and brickbats. They had had possession 
of the square about three hours, and the danger was becoming 
imminent, when the Pwanyu hien, or J district magistrate,' came 
up, with three or four other officers, attended by a small body 
of police. Stepping out of his sedan he waved his hand over 
the crowd, the lictors pouncing upon three or four of the most 
active, whom they began to chastise upon the spot, and the 
storm was quelled. About twenty soldiers, armed with swords 
and spears, took their stand in a conspicuous quarter ; the mag- 
istrate and his retinue seated themselves, leaving the hong 
merchants and the police to disperse the crowd. The foreign- 
ers were also assured that all should be kept quiet during the 
night, but not a word was said to them regarding their conduct 



144 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

in interfering with the execution or their folly in bringing this 
danger upon themselves. This occurrence tended to impress 
both the government and people with contempt and hatred for 
foreigners and their characters, fear of their designs, and the 
necessity of restraining them. The majority of them were 
engaged in the opium trade, and all stood before the Empire as 
violators of the laws, while the people themselves suffered the 
dreadful penalty. 

There is no room for the details and correspondence connected 
with this remarkable incident. 1 Captain Elliot now reappeared 
in Canton, and at a general meeting expressed his conviction of 
the cause of these untoward events in the smuggling traffic on the 
river, declaring his intention of ordering all the British-owned 
vessels to leave it within three days ; he moreover expressed the 
hope that the further step of opening communication with the 
provincial authorities to obtain their co-operation to drive them 
out would be prevented by their speedy departure. Injunctions 
and entreaties to his countrymen were, however, alike unavailing, 
and he accordingly addressed the governor, stating his wish to 
co-operate in driving them out. In a public notice he remarked 
that " this course of traffic was rapidly staining the British 
character with deep disgrace " and exposing the regular com- 
merce to imminent jeopardy, and that he meant to shrink from 
no responsibility in drawing it to a conclusion. The governor, 
as was expected, praised the superintendent for his offer, but 
left him to do the whole work ; remarking, in that peculiar 
strain of Chinese conceit which so effectually forestalls our 
sympathy for their difficulties, that " it may well be conceived 
that these boats trouble me not one iota :" — as if all he had to 
do was to arise in his majesty, and they were gone. The boats, 
however, gradually left the river. Mr. Innes retired, and the 
regular trade was resumed in January. 

ISo British consular officer has been placed in a more difficult 
and humiliating dilemma, and Captain Elliot did himself honor 
in his efforts. The English newspapers ridiculed him as a tide- 
waiter of the Chinese custom-house, a man who aided the 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., pp. 437-456. 



APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONER LIN. 145 

cowardly authorities to carry their orders into effect, thereby 
staining the honor of her Majesty's commission. Although he 
did not intend to draw a line between the heinousness of 
the opium trade inside of the Bogue and its harmlessness be- 
yond that limit, still there were good reasons, under his peculiar 
position, for some action to show the Chinese government that 
British power would not protect British subjects in violating the 
laws of China. 

At this period the Peking government had taken its course 
of action. .Reports had been received from the provincial au- 
thorities almost unanimously recommending increased strin- 
gency to abolish the traffic. History, so far as we know, does 
not record a similar example of an arbitrary, despotic, pagan gov- 
ernment taking the public sentiment of its own people before 
adopting a doubtful line of conduct. It was a far more momen- 
tous and difficult question than even the cabinet deemed it to 
be, while their conceit and ignorance incapacitated them from 
dealing with it prudently or successfully. There can be no rea- 
sonable doubt that the best part of his people and the moral 
power of the nation were with their sovereign in this attempt. 
Hii Nai-tsi was dismissed for proposing legalization, and three 
princes of the blood degraded for smoking opium ; arrests, fines, 
tortures, imprisonments, and executions were frequent in the 
provinces on the same grounds, all showing the determination 
to eradicate it. The governor of Hukwang, Lin Tseh-su, was 
ordered to proceed to Canton, with unlimited powers to stop the 
traffic. The trade there was at this time almost suspended, the 
deliveries being small and at losing prices. Many underlings 
were convicted and summarily punished, and on February 
26th Fung A-ngan was strangled in front of the factories 
for his connection with opium and participation in the affray 
at Whampoa. The foreign flags, English, American, Dutch, 
and French, were all hauled down in consequence. The entire 
stoppage of all trade was threatened, and the governor urged 
foreigners to send all opium ships from Chinese waters. 

Commissioner Lin arrived in Canton March 10th. The Em- 
peror sent him to inquire and act so as thoroughly to remove 
the source of the evil, for, says he, " if the source of the evil 



146 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

be not clearly ascertained, how can we hope that the stream of 
pernicious consequences shall be stayed ? It is our full hope that 
the long-indulged habit will be forever laid aside, and every root 
and germ of it entirely eradicated ; we would fain think that 
our ministers will be enabled to substantiate our wishes, and so 
remove from China the dire calamity." It was reported in Can- 
ton that the monarch, when recounting the evils which had long 
afflicted his people by means of opium, paused and wept, and 
turning to Lin, said : " How, alas ! can I die and go to the shades 
of my imperial father and ancestors, until these direful evils are 
removed ! " Such was the chief purpose of this movement on 
the part of the Chinese government, and Lin was invested with 
the fullest powers ever conferred on a subject. Although long 
experience of the ineffectiveness of Chinese edicts generally lead 
those residing in the country to regard them as mere verbiage, 
still, to say that they are all insincere and formal because they 
are ineffectual, is to misjudge and pervert the emotions of com- 
mon humanity. Lin appears to have been well fitted for the 
mission $ and if he had been half as enlightened as he was sin- 
cere, he would perhaps have averted the war which followed, 
and been convinced that legalization was the most judicious step 
he could recommend. 

The commissioner spent a week making inquiries, during 
which time nothing was publicly heard from him ; while natives 
and foreigners alike anxiously speculated as to his plans. It was 
not until March 18th that his first proclamations were issued to 
the hong merchants and foreigners ; that to the latter required 
them to deliver up all the opium in the storeships, and to give 
bonds that they would bring no more, on penalty of death. 
The poor hong merchants were, as usual, instructed regarding 
their responsibility to admonish the foreigners, and strictly 
charged to procure these bonds, or they would be made examples 
of. Three days were allowed for compliance with these de- 
mands. The hoppo had already issued orders detaining all for- 
eigners in Canton — in fact, making them prisoners in their own 
houses; communication with the shipping was suspended, troops 
were assembled about the factories, and armed cruisers stationed 
on the river. The Chamber of Commerce wrote to the hong 



LIN DEMANDS A SURRENDER OF OPIUM. 147 

merchants on the 20th., through their chairman, W. S. Wetmore, 
an American, stating that they would send a definite reply in 
four days, and adding that " there is an almost unanimous feel- 
ing in the community of the absolute necessity of the foreign 
residents of Canton having no connection with the opium traffic." 

This paper was taken to the commissioner, and about ten 
o'clock p.m. the hong merchants again met the Chamber, and 
told them that if some opium was not given up two of their 
number would be beheaded in the morning. The merchants 
present, including British, Parsees, Americans, and others, act- 
ing as individuals, then subscribed one thousand and thirty- 
seven chests, to be tendered to the commissioner ; but the hong 
merchants reported next morning that this amount was insuffi- 
cient. In the afternoon Lin sent an invitation to Mr. Dent, a 
leading English merchant, to meet him at the city gates, who 
expressed his willingness to go if the commissioner would give 
him a safe-warrant guaranteeing his return within a day. The 
hong merchants returned without him ; and the next morning 
two of them, Howqua and Mowqua, came again to his house 
with chains upon their necks, having been sent with an express 
order for him to appear. They repaired to the Chamber of 
Commerce then assembled, but all soon returned to Mr. Dent's 
house, where an animated debate took place, which resulted in 
the unanimous decision on the part of the foreign residents 
that he should not go into the city without the safe-warrant. 
This unexpected demand caused much discussion among for- 
eigners, as it was doubtless a contrivance to secure a hostage ; 
and the refusal of the former to give a written safe- warrant 
would probably have ended in seizing Mr. Dent and imprison- 
ing him, if Howqua, the senior hong merchant, had not allowed 
everything to wait over one day till Monday. Mr. Dent's 
partner had that day seen the an-cha/i S3 1 , or 'provincial judge,' 
in the city to explain why he hesitated to go to Lin. 

On the 22d Captain Elliot sent a note to the governor ex- 
pressing his readiness to meet the Chinese officers, and use " his 
sincere efforts to fulfil the pleasure of the great Emperor as 
soon as it was made known to him. 1 ' The Chinese could hardly 
draw any other conclusion from this admission than that he 



148 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

had the power, as well as the inclination to put down the opium 
trade, which he certainly could not do ; it tended therefore to 
deceive them. This note was followed by a letter to Captain 
Blake, of theLarne, requesting his assistance in defending Brit- 
ish property and life, and by a circular ordering all British ships, 
opium and others, to proceed to Hongkong and prepare them- 
selves to resist every act of aggression. A second circular to 
British subjects detailed the reasons which compelled him to 
withdraw all confidence in the "justice and moderation of the 
provincial government," and demand passports for all his 
countrymen who wished to leave Canton, while counselling every 
one to make preparations to remove on board ship. Elliot 
now proceeded to Canton, which he safely reached about sunset 
Sunday evening, dressed in naval uniform and closely attended 
by cruisers watching his movements. The British flag was 
then hoisted, and Captain Elliot, conducting Mr. Dent to the 
consulate in the most conspicuous manner, summoned a public 
meeting, read his notice of the previous day, and told the hong 
merchants to inform the commissioner that he was willing to 
let Mr. Dent go into the city if he could accompany him. 

His coming up the river had excited the apprehensions of 
the Chinese that he meant to force his way out again, and 
orders were issued to close every pass around the factories. By 
nine o'clock that evening the foreigners, about two hundred 
and seventy-five in number, were the only inmates of their 
houses. Patrols, sentinels, and officers, hastening hither and 
thither, with the blowing of trumpets and beating of gongs, 
added confusion to the darkness of the night. 

On the 25th most of the foreign merchants of all nations 
signed a paper pledging themselves "not to deal in opium, nor 
to attempt to introduce it into the Chinese Empire : " how 
many of the individuals subsequently broke this pledge on the 
ground that it was forced from them cannot be stated, but part 
of the firms which signed it afterward actively engaged in the 
trade. Captain Elliot applied for passports for himself and 
countrymen, and requested the return of the servants, avoiding 
all reference to his promise of three days before, or mention of 
the cause of these stringent proceedings. His requests were 



THE FOREIGNERS IMPRISONED I1N" THE FACTORIES. 149 

refused ; no native was allowed to bring food or water to the 
factories ; letters could not be sent to Whampoa or Macao, ex- 
cept at imminent risk ; the confinement was complete, and had 
been effected without the least personal harm. The heavy 
punishment which had fallen on Kwoh Si-ping, Ho Lau-kin, 
and Fung A-ngan had now come near to the foreign agents of 
the traffic ; but not an individual had been touched. 

The commissioner next issued an exhortation to all foreigners, 
urging them to deliver the drug on four grounds, viz., because 
they were men and had reason ; because the laws forbade its 
use, under severe penalties ; because they should have feelings 
for those who suffered from using it ; and because of their 
present duress, from which they would then be released. This 
paper, as were all those issued by Lin, was characterized by an 
unusual vigor of expression and cogency of reasoning, but be- 
trayed the same arrogance and ignorance which had misled his 
predecessors. One extract will suffice. Under the first reason 
why the opium should be delivered up, he says that other- 
wise the retribution of heaven will follow them, and cites some 
cases to prove this : 

Now, our great Emperor, being actuated by the exalted virtue of heaven 
itself, wishes to cut off this deluge of opium, which is the plainest proof that 
such is the intention of high heaven ! It is then a traffic on which heaven 
looks with disgust, and who is he that may oppose its will ? Thus in the in- 
stance of the English chief Robarts, who violated our laws ; he endeavored to 
get possession of Macao by force, and at Macao he died! Again, in 1834, Lord 
Xapier bolted through the Bocca Tigris, but being overwhelmed with grief and 
fear he almost immediately died ; and Morrison, who had been darkly deceiv- 
ing him, died that very year also ! Besides these, every one of those who have 
not observed our laws have either been overtaken with the judgments of hea- 
ven on returning to their country, or silently cut off ere they could return 
thither. Thus then it is manifest that the heavenly dynasty may not be op- 



Two communications to Captain Elliot, from Lin through the 
prefect and district magistrates, accompanied this exhortation, 
stating his view of the superintendent's conduct in contuma- 
ciously resisting his commands and requiring him to give up the 
opium. For once in the history of foreign intercourse with 
China, these commands were obeyed, and after intimating his 



150 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

readiness to comply, Captain Elliot issued a circular on Marc] i 
27th, which from its important results is quoted entire : 

I, Charles Elliot, chief superintendent of the trade of British subjects in 
China, presently forcibly detained by the provincial government, together with 
all the merchants of my own and the other foreign nations settled here, with- 
out supplies of food, deprived of our servants, and cut off from all intercourse 
with our respective countries (notwithstanding my own official demand to be 
set at liberty that I might act without restraint), have now received the com- 
mands of the high commissioner, issued directly to me under the seals of the 
honorable officers, to deliver into his hand all the opium held by the people 
of my own country. Now I, the said chief superintendent, thus constrained by 
paramount motives affecting the safety of the lives and liberty of all the for- 
eigners here present in Canton, and by other very weighty causes, do hereby, 
in the name and on the behalf of her Britannic Majesty's government, enjoin 
and require all her Majesty's subjects now present in Canton, forthwith to 
make a surrender to me for the service of her said Majesty's government, to be 
delivered over to the government of China, of all the opium under their re- 
spective control : and to hold the British ships and vessels engaged in the 
opium trade subject to my immediate direction : and to forward me without 
delay a sealed list of all the British-owned opium in their respective possession. 
And I, the said chief superintendent, do now, in the most full and unreserved 
manner, hold myself responsible for, and on the behalf of her Britannic 
Majesty's government, to all and each of her Majesty's subjects surrendering the 
said British-owned opium into my hands, to be delivered over to the Chinese 
government. And I, the said chief superintendent, do further especially cau- 
tion all her Majesty's subjects here present in Canton, owners of or charged 
with the management of opium the property of British subjects, that failing the 
surrender of the said opium into my hands at or before six o'clock this day, I, 
the said superintendent, hereby declare her Majesty's government. wholly free 
of all manner of responsibility in respect of the said British-owned opium. 
And it is specially to be understood that proof of British property and value of 
all British-owned opium surrendered to me agreeable to this notice, shall be 
determined upon principles, and in a manner hereafter to be denned by her 
Majesty's government. 1 

The guarantee offered in this notice was deemed sufficient by 
the merchants, though Captain Elliot had no authority to take 
such a responsibility, and exceeded his powers in giving it ; be- 
ing the authorized agent of the crown, however, his government 
was responsible for his acts, though the notice did not, nor 
could it, set any price upon the surrendered property. 

At the time it was given it could not be honestly said that 

1 Cliinese Bepositary, Vol. VII., p. 633. 



CAPTAIN ELLIOT'S CIRCULAR. 151 

the lives of foreigners were in jeopardy, and Lin had promised 
to reopen the trade as soon as the opium was delivered and the 
bonds given. What the other "very weighty causes" were 
must be guessed ; but the requisition was promptly answered, 
and before night twenty thousand two hundred and eighty-three 
chests of opium had been surrendered, which Captain Elliot the 
next day tendered to the commissioner. Their market value at 
the time was not far from nine millions of dollars, and the cost 
price nearly eleven millions. Directions were sent to twenty - 
two vessels to anchor near the Bogue, to await orders for its 
delivery, the commissioner and the governor themselves going 
down forty miles to superintend the transfer. On April 2d 
the arrangements for delivering the opium were completed, 
and on May 21st it was all housed near the Bogue. 

When the guard was placed about the factories, no native 
came near them for three days, but on the 29th a supply of 
sheep, pigs, poultry, and other provisions was " graciously be- 
stowed" upon their inmates, most of whom refused them as 
gifts, which impressed Lin with the belief that they were not 
actually suffering for food. On May 5th the guards and boats 
were removed, and communication resumed with the shipping. 
Sixteen persons, English, Americans, and Parsees, named as 
principal agents in the opium trade, were ordered to leave the 
country and never return. On the 24th Captain Elliot left 
Canton, accompanied by the ten British subjects mentioned 
among the sixteen outlawed persons. In order still further to 
involve her Majesty's ministers in his acts, he forbade British 
ships entering the port, or any British subject living in Can- 
ton, on the ground that both life and property were insecure ; 
there were, however, no serious apprehensions felt by other 
foreigners remaining there ; and the propriety of the order was 
questioned by those who were serious sufferers from its action. 

This success in getting the opium encouraged Lin to demand 
the bond, but although the captains of most of the ships signed 
it when the port was first opened, it was not required long after. 
The British merchants at Canton prepared a memorial to the 
foreign secretary of their government, recapitulating the aggres- 
sive acts of the Chinese government in stopping the legal trade, 



152 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

detaining all foreigners in Canton until the opium was surren- 
dered, and requiring them to sign a bond not to bring it again, 
which involved their responsibility over those whom they could 
not control ; but nothing was said in it of their own unlawful 
acts, no reference to their promises of a few months before, no 
allusion to the causes of these acts of aggression. Its burden 
was, however, to urge the government to issue a notice of its 
intentions respecting the pledge given them by the superintend- 
ent in his demand for the opium. 

Lin referred to Peking for orders concerning the disposal of 
the opium, and his Majesty commanded the whole to be des- 
troyed by him and his colleagues in the presence of the civil 
and military officers, the inhabitants of the coast, and the for- 
eigners, " that they may know and tremble thereat." Captain 
Elliot, on the other hand, before it had all been delivered, wrote 
to his government, April 22d, his belief that the Chinese in- 
tended to sell it at a high price, remunerating the owners and 
pocketing the difference, preparatory to legalizing the traffic, 
and making some arrangements to limit the annual importation 
to a certain number of chests ; consequently he recommended 
an " immediate and strong declaration to exact complete indem- 
nity for all manner of loss " from the Chinese. He calls Lin 
" false and perfidious," though it is difficult to see why he 
applies these epithets to one who seems to have sincerely en- 
deavored to carry out instructions, while his own communica- 
tions certainly tended to mislead him. The sense of the 
responsibility he had assumed, and the irritating confinement 
under which it was written, account, in a measure, for this 
despatch, so different in its tenor from his previous declara- 
tions. 

The opium was destroyed in the most thorough manner, by 
mixing it in parcels of two hundred chests, in trenches, with 
lime and salt water, and then drawing off the contents into the 
adjacent creek at low tide. Overseers were stationed to prevent 
the workmen or villagers from purloining the opium, and one 
man was summarily executed for attempting to carry away a 
small quantity. Xo doubt remained in the minds of persons 
who visited the place and examined the operation, that the 



THE OPIUM YIELDED AND DESTROYED. 153 

entire quantity of twenty thousand two hundred and ninety-one 
chests received from the English (eight more having been sent 
from Macao) was completely destroyed : — a solitary instance in 
the history of the world of a pagan monarch preferring to 
destroy what would injure his subjects, rather than to fill his 
own pockets with its sale. The whole transaction will ever 
remain one of the most remarkable incidents in human history 
for its contrasts, and the great changes it introduced into 
China. 1 

The course of events during the remainder of the year 1839 
presents a strange mixture of traffic and hostility. The British 
merchants were obliged to send their goods to Canton in ships 
sailing under other flags, which led the commissioner to issue 
placards exhorting British captains to bring their ships into 
port. This procedure brought out a rejoinder from Captain 
Elliot, giving the reasons why he had forbidden them to do so, 
and complaining of his own unjust imprisonment as unbecoming 
treatment to the "officer of a friendly nation, recognized by the 
Emperor, who had always performed his duty peacefully and 
irreproachably." Captain Elliot's own correspondence shows, 
however, that this is an unfair statement of the political rela- 
tions between them. 

While this matter of trade was pending, a drunken affray oc- 
curred at Hongkong with some English sailors, in which an in- 
offensive native named Lin Wei-hi lost his life. The commis- 
sioner ordered an inquest to be held, and demanded the mur- 
derer, according to Chinese law. The superintendent empanelled 
a regular court of criminal and admiralty jurisdiction at Hong- 
kong, to try the seamen who had been arrested. He also offered 

1 Sir Robert Peel declared that this property was obtained by her Majesty's 
agent without any authority ; but when the six millions of dollars were re- 
ceived from the Chinese as indemnity, the British government made its sub- 
jects receive their money in London, charged them with all expenses instead 
of paying it in China, and priced the opium at scarcely half what the East In- 
dia Company had received from it, by taking the market rates when the trade 
at Canton was nominal. The merchants lost, with accruing interest, about two 
millions sterling, and "SirR. Peel transferred a million sterling from their 
pockets to the public treasury." — Chinese Mepositwy, Vol. XIII., p. 54 (from 
London paper). 



154 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

a reward of $200 for such evidence as would lead to the convic- 
tion of the offenders ; and advanced in all $2,000 to the friends of 
the deceased as some compensation for their heavy loss, and to 
the villagers for injuries done to them in the riot. Having 
formed the court, he politely invited the provincial officers to at- 
tend the trial ; and when it was over, informed them that he had 
been unable to ascertain the perpetrator of the deed. Five sailors 
were convicted and punished for riotous conduct by fine and im- 
prisonment, and sent to England under arrest, but to everybody's 
surprise were all liberated on their arrival. The proceedings in 
this matter were perfectly fair, and the commissioner should have 
been satisfied ; but his subsequent violent conduct really placed 
the dispute on an entirely new ground, though he regarded his 
action as simply exercising the same prerogative of control over 
foreigners in both cases. Finding his demand for the murderer 
disregarded, he took measures against the English then in Macao 
which were calculated to bring serious loss upon the Portuguese 
population. His course was prompted by anger at losing the 
trade, and only injured his own cause. In order to relieve the 
unoffending and helpless people in Macao, Captain Elliot and 
all British subjects who could do so left the settlement August 
26th, and went on board ship for a time. During this interval 
Lin and Governor Tang visited Macao under an escort of Portu- 
guese troops, but retired the same day. This move placed the 
English beyond his reach, but did not advance his efforts to 
drive the opium ships from the coast, or induce the regular 
traders to enter the port. The sales of opium had begun again 
even before the destruction of the drug, and rapidly increased 
when it was known that that immense quantity had really been 
destroyed. Lin now began to see that his plan of proceedings 
might not ultimately prove so successful as he had anticipated, 
for he was bound to remain at Canton, until he could report the 
complete suppression of the contraband and safe continuance of 
the legal trade. 

Finding that the British fleet at Hongkong was too strong to 
drive away, he forbade the inhabitants supplying the ships with 
provisions. This led to a collision between the British and three 
junks near Kowlung, which resulted, however, in no serious 



FURTHER TROUBLES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND CHINESE. 155 

damage. On September 11th, Captain Elliot, having ordered 
all British vessels engaged in the opium trade to leave the 
harbor and coast, they mostly proceeded to Kamoh. The 
Chinese burned the next day a Spanish vessel, the Bilbaino, in 
Macao waters, under the impression that she was English. 

In unison with all the strange features of this struggle, while 
hostilities were going on, negotiations for continuing trade were 
entered into in October, when the commissioner signed the agree- 
ment, and Captain Elliot furnished security for its being con- 
ducted fairly. But the unauthorized entrance of the English 
ship Thomas Coutts, whose captain signed the bond, led to a 
rupture and the renewed demand for the murderer of Lin 
Wei-hi. Captain Elliot ordered all British ship© to reassemble 
at Tungku under the protection of the ships of war Volage 
and Hyacinth. He also proceeded to the Bogue to request a 
withdrawal of the threats against the British until the two 
governments could arrange the difficulties, w T hen an engage- 
ment ensued between Admiral Kwan, with a fleet of sixteen 
junks, and the two ships of war ; three junks were sunk, one 
blown up, and the rest scattered. The commissioner had been 
foiled in all his efforts to destroy the opium trade and con- 
tinue the legal commerce. As a last effort against the British, 
he declared their trade at an end after December 6, 1839, and 
issued an edict like that of Napoleon at Berlin, November 19, 
1806, forbidding their goods to be imported in any vessels. An 
enormous amount of property now lay at Canton and on board 
ship waiting to be exchanged in the course of regular trade, but 
only the opium traffic flourished. 

The close of the year 1839 saw the two nations involved 
in serious difficulties, and as the events here briefly recounted 
were the cause of the war, it w T ill be proper to compare the 
opinions of the two parties, in order to arrive at a better judg- 
ment upon the character of that contest. The degree of 
authority to be exercised over persons who visit their shores is 
acknowledged by Christian nations among themselves to be 
nearly the same as that over their own subjects ; but none of 
these nations have conceded this authority to unchristian 
powers, as Turkey, Persia, or China, mainly because of the 



156 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

little security and justice to be expected. The Chinese have 
looked upon foreigners resorting to their ports as doing so by 
sufferance ; they entered into no treaty to settle the conditions 
of authority on either side, for the latter considered them- 
selves as sojourners and aliens, and the natives were unaware of 
their rights in the matter. Their right to prohibit the intro- 
duction of any particular articles was acknowledged, and the 
propriety of making regulations as to duties allowed. But 
traders from western nations often set light by the fiscal regu- 
lations of such countries as China, Siam, etc., if they can do so 
without personal detriment or loss of character ; and where 
there is a want of power in the government, joined to a lack of 
moral sense in the people, all laws are imperfectly executed. 
^o one acquainted with these countries is surprised at frequent 
and flagrant violations of law, order, justice or courtesy, both 
among rulers and ruled ; yet the obligation of foreigners to 
obey just laws made known to them surely is not to be meas- 
ured solely by the degree of obedience paid by a portion of the 
people themselves. 

The Chinese government discussed the measure of legalizing 
a trade it could not suppress, but before constructing a law to 
that effect, it determined to make a final and more vigorous 
effort to stamp it out. Might makes right, or at least enforces 
it; had the Chinese possessed the power to destroy every ship 
found violating their laws, although the loss of life would have 
been dreadful, no voice would have been raised against the pro- 
ceeding. " Her Majesty's government," said Lord Palmerston, 
"cannot interfere for the purpose of enabling British subjects 
to violate the laws of the country to which they trade." But in 
that case this power would not have been dared ; the known 
weakness of the government emboldened both sellers and 
buyers, until Captain Elliot told the Foreign Secretary that " it 
was a confusion of terms to call the opium trade a smuggling 
trade." 

Lin probably wished to get Mr. Dent as a hostage for the 
delivery of the opium in the hands of his countrymen, not to 
punish him for disobedience to previous orders ; expecting no 
opposition to this demand, he seems to have been unwilling to 



MOTIVES AND POSITION OF COMMISSIONER LIN. 15? 

seize him immediately, preferring to try persuasion and com- 
mand longer, and detain him and other foreigners until he was 
obeyed ; Captain Elliot he viewed as a mere head merchant. 
When, therefore, the attempt was made, as he supposed, to take 
Mr. Dent out of his hands, he was apprehensive of a struggle, 
and instantly took the strongest precautionary measures to pre- 
vent the prey escaping. Considerate allowance should be granted 
for the serious mistake he made of imprisoning the innocent 
with the guilty ; but when Captain Elliot took Mr. Dent tlms 
under his protection, the commissioner felt that his purpose 
would be defeated, and no opium obtained, if he began to draw 
a distinction. Besides, conscious that he possessed unlimited 
power over a few defenceless foreigners, nearly all of whom 
were in his eyes guilty, he cared very little where his acts fell. 
There is no good evidence to show that he seriously meditated 
anything which would hazard their lives. When he had re- 
ceived this vast amount of property, success evidently made him 
careless as to his conduct, and judging the probity and good 
faith of foreigners by his own standard, he deemed it safest to 
detain them until the opium was actually in his possession. 
Concluding that Captain Elliot did attempt to abscond with Mr. 
Dent, it is less surprising, therefore, that he should have looked 
upon his offers to " carry out the will of the great Emperor," 
when set at liberty, as a lure rather than a sincere proposition. 
In imprisoning him he had no more idea he was imprisoning, 
insulting, threatening, and coercing the representative of a 
power like Great Britain, or violating rules western powers call 
jus gentium, than if he had been the envoy from Siam or Lew- 
chew. Whether he should not have known this is another 
question, and had he candidly set himself, on his arrival at 
Canton, to ascertain the power, position, and commerce of west- 
ern countries, he would have found Captain Elliot sincerely 
desirous of meeting him in his endeavors to fulfil his high com- 
mission. Let us deal fairly by the Chinese rulers in their desire 
to restrain a traffic of which they knew and felt vastly more of 
its evil than we have ever done, and give Lin his due, though 
his endeavors failed so signally. 

The opium was now obtained ; no lives had been lost, nor any 



158 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

one endangered ; but the British government felt bound to pay 
its own subjects for their chests. The only source Captain 
Elliot suggested was to make the Chinese refund. The Em- 
peror ordered it to be destroyed, and the commissioner, after 
executing that order, next endeavored to separate the legal from 
the contraband trade by demanding bonds; they had been 
taken in vain from the hong merchants, but there was more 
hope if taken directly from foreigners. The bonds were not 
made a pretext for war by the English ministry ; that, on the 
part of England, according to Lord John Russell, was "set 
afoot to obtain reparation for insults and injuries offered her 
Majesty's superintendent and subjects ; to obtain indemnifica- 
tion for the losses the merchants had sustained under threats of 
violence ; and, lastly, to get security that persons and property 
trading with China should in future be protected from insult 
and injury, and trade maintained upon a proper footing." 
Looking at the war, therefore, as growing out of this trade, and 
waged to recover the losses sustained by the surrendry to the 
British superintendent, it was an unjust one. It was, moreover, 
an immoral contest, when the standing of the two nations was 
examined, and the fact could not be concealed that Great Brit- 
ain, the first Christian power, really waged this war against the 
pagan monarch who had vainly endeavored to put down a vice 
hurtful to his people. The war was looked upon in this light 
by the Chinese ; it will always be so looked upon by the candid 
historian, and known as the Opium War. 

On the other hand, the war was felt by every well-wisher to 
China to involve far higher principles than the mere recovery of 
the opium ; and had it been really held to be so by the English 
ministry, they w r ould have done w T ell to have alluded to them. 
Lin's reiterated demands for the murderer of Lin Wei-hi, 
though told that he could not be found, was only one form of 
the supremacy the Chinese arrogantly assumed over other na- 
tions. In all their intercourse with their fellow-men they main- 
tained a patronizing, unfair, and contemptuous position, which 
left no alternative but withdrawal from their shores or a humil- 
iating submission that no one feeling the least independence 
could endure. Not unjustly proud of their country in compari- 



CHARACTER OF THE DEBATE UPON THE WAR. 159 

son with those near it, her Emperor, her rulers, and her people 
all believed her to be impregnably strong, portentously awful, 
and immensely rich in learning, power, wealth, and territory. 
Xono of them imagined that aught could be learned or gained 
from other nations ; for the " outside barbarians " were de- 
pendent for their health and food upon the rhubarb, tea, and 
silks of the Inner Land. They had seen, indeed, bad specimens 
of western power and people, but there were equal opportunities 
for them to have learned the truth on these points. The re- 
ception of the religion of the Bible, the varied useful branches 
of science, and the many mechanical arts known in western 
lands, with the free passage of their own people abroad, were 
all forbidden to the millions of China by their supercilious 
rulers ; they thereby preferred to remain the slaves of debasing 
superstitions, ignorant of common science, and deprived of 
everything which Christian benevolence, philanthropy, and 
knowledge could and wished to impart to them. This assump- 
tion of supremacy, and a real impression of its propriety, was a 
higher wall around them than the long pile of stones north of 
Peking. Force seemed to be the only effectual destroyer of 
such a barrier, and in this view the war may be said to have 
been necessary to compel the Chinese government to receive 
western powers as its equals, or at least make it treat their sub- 
jects as well as it did its own people. There was little hope of 
an adjustment of difficulties until the Chinese were compelled 
to abandon this erroneous assumption ; the conviction that it 
was unjust, unfounded, and foolish in itself could safely be left 
to the gradual influences of true religion, profitable commerce, 
and sound knowledge. 

The report of the debate in the British Parliament on this 
momentous question hardly contains a single reference to this 
feature of the Chinese government. It turned almost wholly 
upon the opium trade, and whether the hostilities had not pro- 
ceeded from the want of foresight and precaution on the part 
of her Majesty's ministers. The speeches all showed ignorance 
of both principles and facts : Sir James Graham asserted that 
the governors of Canton had sanctioned the trade ; Sir George 
Staunton that it would not be safe for British power in India 



160 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

if these insults were not checked, and that the Chinese had fat 
exceeded in their recent efforts the previous acknowledged laws 
of the land ! Dr. Lushington maintained that the connivance 
of the local rulers acquitted the smugglers ; Sir John Hob- 
house truly stated that the reason why the government had 
done nothing to stop the opium trade was that it was profit- 
able ; and Lord Melbourne, with still more fairness, said : "We 
possess immense territories peculiarly fitted for raising opium, 
and though I would wish that the government were not so 
directly concerned in the traffic, I am not prepared to pledge 
myself to relinquish it." The Duke of Wellington thought 
the Chinese government was insincere in its efforts, and there- 
fore deserved little sympathy ; while Lord Ellenborough spoke 
of the million and a half sterling revenue " derived from for- 
eigners," which, if the opium monopoly was given up and its 
cultivation abandoned, they must seek elsewhere. No one ad- 
vocated war on the ground that the opium had been seized, but 
the majority were in favor of letting it go on because it was 
begun. This debate was, in fact, a remarkable instance of the 
/ way in which a moral question is blinked even by conscientious 
' persons whenever politics or interest come athwart its course. 
2so declaration of war was ever published by Queen Yictoria, 
further than an order in council to the admiralty, in which it 
was recited that " satisfaction and reparation for the late in- 
jurious proceedings of certain officers of the Emperor of China 
against certain of our officers and subjects shall be demanded 
from the Chinese government ; " the object of this order was, 
chiefly, to direct concerning the disposal of such ships, vessels, 
and cargoes belonging to the Chinese as might be seized. Per- 
haps the formality of a declaration of war against a nation 
which knew nothing of the law of nations was not necessary, 
but if a minister plenipotentiary from Peking had been pres- 
ent at the debate in Parliament in April, 1840, he would have 
declared the motives and proceedings of his government 
strangely misrepresented. It was time that better ideas of 
one another should find place in their councils, and that means 
should be afforded the rulers of each nation to learn the truth. 
The Chinese apparently foresaw the coming struggle, anu 



PREPARATION FOR HOSTILITIES. 161 

began to collect troops and repair their forts ; Lin, now gover- 
nor-general of Kwangtung, purchased the Chesapeake, a large 
ship, and appointed an intendant of circuit near Macao, to 
guard the coasts. The English carried on their trade under 
neutral flags, and Lin made no further efforts to annoy them. 
He, however, wrote two official letters to Queen Victoria, de- 
siring her assistance in putting down the opium trade, in which 
the peculiar ideas of his countrymen respecting their own im- 
portance and their position among the nations of the earth 
were singularly exhibited. 1 Notwithstanding the causes of com- 
plaint he had against the English, he behaved kindly to the 
surviving crew of the Sunda, an English vessel wrecked on 
Hainan, and sent them, on their arrival at Canton, to their 
countrymen. 

l^-Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII. , pp. 9-12, 497-503 ; Vol. IX., pp. 241-257. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE OPIUM WAE. 

On June 22, 1840, before the advance part of the British 
force reached China, Sir Gordon Bremer published a notice of 
the blockade of the port of Canton. The Americans living 
there had requested Lin to let all their ships arriving before it 
was laid on come directly up the river. He granted the appli- 
cation, but declared it "to be an egregious mistake, analogous 
to an audacious falsehood, that the English contemplated putting 
on a blockade." Captain Elliot also issued a manifesto to the 
people, which was widely dispersed, setting forth the grievances 
which had been suffered by the English at the hands of Lin, 
and assuring them that no harm would come while they pursued 
their peaceful occupations — for the quarrel was entirely between 
the two governments, and the Queen had deputed high officers 
to make known the truth to the Emperor. 

Sir Gordon Bremer's force of five ships of war, three steamers, 
and twenty-one transports reached Tinghai harbor July 4th. In 
reply to a summons to surrender, the Chinese officers declared 
their determination to resist as far as their means allowed ; but 
complained of the hardship of being made answerable for 
wrongs done at Canton, upon which place the blow should prop- 
erly fall. The attack was made on Sunday, July 5th, when the 
Wellesley (74) opened her guns on the town, which were 
answered by the junks and batteries. A few minutes suf- 
ficed to silence the latter, and three thousand men landed and 
menaced Tinghai, whose walls were lined with soldiers. The 
town was evacuated d urine; the night, most of the respect- 
able inhabitants going to Ningpo ; many of the Chinese high 



AERIVAL OF THE BRITISH— FALL OF TING II AI. 163 

officials were killed, which, with the experience of the terrible 
foreign force brought against them, disheartened their troops 
beyond measure. 

Two days after this attack the joint plenipotentiaries, Admiral 
G. Elliot and Captain Elliot, arrived in the Melville (74) at 
Chusan. To the authorities at Amoy and Ningpo they sent 
copies of Lord Palmerston's letter to the Emperor, with a request 
to forward them to Peking ; the officials declined, however, un- 
dertaking any such responsibility. 

The prefect of Mngpo took measures to prevent the people 
of Chusan from " aiding and comforting 5 ' their conquerors by 
sending police-runners to mark those who supplied them ; a pur- 
veyor from Canton was seized and brought back. An idea that 
the Chinese people wished to throw off the Manchu yoke, and a 
desire to conciliate the islanders, led the British to take less 
decided measures for supplying themselves with provisions than 
they otherwise would. A small party was sent to recapture the 
purveyor, but its unsuccessful trip over the island showed the 
unwillingness of the people to have anything to do with their 
invaders, while their dread was increased by the arrest of several 
village elders. Mr. Gutzlaff was stationed at Chusan, doing his 
best to reassure the people ; and as he went around exhorting 
them to act peaceably, some of them asked him, " If you are so 
desirous of peace, why did you come here at all ? " 

After arranging the government of the island, the stations of 
the troops, and blockading of Amoy, Ningpo, and the mouths 
of the Min and Yangtsz' Rivers, the two plenipotentiaries left 
Tinghai and anchored off the Pei ho August 11th. Captain Elliot 
went ashore, and finding that Kishen, the governor-general of 
Chihli, was at Taku, delivered the letter to his messenger, who 
returned with a request for ten days' delay in which to lay it 
before the Emperor. During this interval the ships visited the 
coast of Liautung to procure provisions, which they obtained 
with some difficulty. No message coming off, a strong boat- 
force was sent ashore on the 28th, with a menacing letter to 
Kishen, when it was ascertained that the reply had in reality 
been awaiting the return of the ships during several da} T s. Ar- 
rangements were now made for a personal interview at Taku 



164 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

between Kishen and Captain Elliot, on Sunday, August 30th, 
in a; large tent. Kishen argued his side of the question with 
great tact and ability, sincerely urging the argument that his 
master had the most unquestionable right to treat the English 
as he had done, for they were and had enrolled themselves his 
tributary subjects. He could not treat definitely on all the 
points in dispute, and obtained a further delay of six days in 
order to refer again to Peking. The conclusion was the rea- 
sonable arrangement that Kishen should meet the English 
plenipotentiaries at Canton, where the truth could be better 
ascertained ; and on September 15th the squadron returned to 
Chusan.: 

While these things were taking place at Taku, there had oc- 
curred a few skirmishes elsewhere. A shipwrecked crew had 
fallen into Chinese hands and been carried to Ningpo, and 
some foraging parties were roughly handled. Lin tried to in- 
spirit his troops by offering large rewards for British ships and 
subjects, and a force of about one thousand two hundred men 
\vas stationed in and around the Barrier at Macao. Captain 
Smith, however, moved two sloops and a steamer near their 
position, and soon drove the soldiers away, destroying their 
guns and barracks. 

• Lin was busy enlisting volunteers and preparing the defences 
of Canton, but in the summer he was ordered to return " with 
the speed of flames" to Peking. His Majesty was unneces- 
sarily severe upon his servant : " You have not only proved 
yourself unable to cut off their trade," he says, " but you have 
also proved yourself unable to seize perverse natives. You 
have but dissembled with empty words, and so far from having 
been any help in the affair, you have caused the waves of con- 
fusion to arise, and a thousand interminable disorders are 
sprouting ; in fact, you have been as if your arms were tied, 
without knowing what to do : it appears, then, you are no bet- 
ter than a wooden image. When I meditate on all these things, 
i am filled with anger and melancholy." Trade was carried on 
notwithstanding the blockade, by sending tea and goods through 
Macao ; and many ships loaded for England and the United 
States. 



INTERVIEW BETWEEN ELLIOT AND KISHEN. 165 

Admiral Elliot entered into a truce with flfpu, governor- 
general of Chehkiang, by which each party agreed to observe 
certain boundaries. Sickness and death had made sad inroads 
into the health and numbers of the troops at Tinghai, owing to 
their bad location, malaria, and improper food ; more than four 
hundred out of the four thousand landed in July having died, 
and three times that number being in the hospitals. The 
people dared not reopen their shops until after the truce ; the 
visits paid to various parts of the island better informed the 
inhabitants of the personal character of their temporary rulers, 
and a profitable trade in provisions encouraged them to farther 
acquaintance. 

The two plenipotentiaries returned November 20th, and im- 
mediately sent a steamer bearing a despatch from llipu to Ki- 
shen ; the vessel was fired upon by an officer unacquainted with 
the meaning of a white flag — the intent and privileges of which 
were after this understood ; Kishen made an ample apology for 
this mishap. Negotiations were resumed during the month of 
December, but the determination of the Chinese to resist rather 
than grant full indemnity for the opium was more and more ap- 
parent. Kishen probably found more zeal among the people 
for a fight than he had supposed, but his own desires were to 
settle the matter " more soon, more better." What demands 
were made as a last alternative are not known, but one of them, 
the cession of the island of Hongkong, he refused to grant, and 
broke off the discussion. Commodore Bremer thereupon at- 
tacked and took the forts at Chuenpi and Taikok-tau on Janu- 
ary 7th, when the further progress of his forces was stayed by 
Kishen, who was present and saw enough to convince him of 
the folly of resistance. 

On January 20th the suspended negotiations had proceeded 
so far that Captain Elliot announced the conclusion of prelim- 
inary arrangements upon four points, viz., the cession of the 
island and harbor of Hongkong to the British crown, an in- 
demnity of six millions of dollars in annual instalments, direct 
official intercourse upon an equal footing, and the immediate 
resumption of English trade at Canton. By these arrange- 
ments Chusan and Chuenpi were to be immediately restored to 



166 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

the Chinese, the prisoners at Ningpo released, and the English 
allowed to occupy Hongkong. One evidence of Kishen's 
" scrupulous good faith," mentioned in Captain Elliot's notice, 
is the edict he put up on Hongkong, telling the inhabitants 
they were now under English authority. Two interviews took 
place after this, at the last of which it was plain that two of the 
four stipulations, viz., the first instalment of a million of dol- 
lars, and opening of trade by February 1st, would not be ful- 
filled. The intimations of the designs of the court were so 
evident that the treaty was probably never even presented to 
the Emperor for ratification. 

Kfshen carried his negotiations thus far, with the hope per- 
haps that an adjustment of the difficulties on such terms would 
be accepted by his imperial master. On the other hand, Lin 
and his colleagues memorialized him as soon as Kishen came to 
Canton against peaceful measures, and their recommendations 
as to the necessity of resistance were strongly backed by the 
mortifying loss of Chusan. The approach of a large force to 
the Pei ho alarmed his Majesty, and conciliatory measures were 
taken, and a reference to Canton proposed before settling the 
dispute ; when the men-of-war left, he was inclined for peace, 
and issued orders not to attack the ships while the discussions 
were going on. But the memorials had already changed his 
mind, and war was determined on at the date of signing the 
treaty. It is probable if, instead of seizing Chusan, which had 
given no cause of provocation, the English had gone up the 
Yangtsz' kiang and Pei ho, and stationed themselves there until 
their demands were granted, peace would have been soon made. 
But, in that case, would the vain notion of their supremacy have 
left the Chinese ? 

Looking back forty years, one can recognize the benefit to 
both parties which resulted from the failure of this treaty. The 
great desire of Christian people, who believed that China was 
finally to receive the gospel, was that it might be opened to 
their benevolent efforts, but this treaty left the country as closed 
as ever to all good influences, commercial, political, social, and 
religious, while the evils of smuggling, law-breaking, and opium - 
smoking remained unmolested. The crisis which had brought 



FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS AT THE BOGUE. 167 

out this expedition was not likely soon to recur, and if this 
failed to break down its seclusiveness, no other nation would 
attempt the task. Every well-wisher of China cherished the 
hope that, since this unfortunate conflict must needs be, its out- 
come would leave the entire land fully accessible to the regener- 
ating, as well as shielded from the evil influences of Christian 
nations. 

Captain Elliot appreciated the dilemma into which the Em- 
peror had been brought by the acts of Lin, and knew that 
ignorance was much more the misfortune than the fault of 
both ; he acted humanely, therefore, in pursuing a mild course 
at first, until the points at issue had been fairly brought before 
the people as well as the cabinet. However justly some parts 
of his conduct may have merited criticism, this praiseworthy 
feature of his policy by no means earned the torrent of abuse 
he received for consistently pursuing such a course. His coun- 
trymen would have had him burn, kill, and destroy, as soon as 
the expedition reached the coast, before even stating his 
demands at court ; and during his negotiations with Kishen, 
and when Chusan was restored, a smile of contempt at his sup- 
posed gullibility was everywhere seen. The treaty of the 
Bogue, though formed in good faith by both commissioners, 
was rejected by both sovereigns, though for opposite reasons ; 
by Yictoria, because it did not grant enough, by Taukwang, 
because it granted too much. 

The Emperor issued orders to resume the war, collect troops 
from the provinces upon Canton and Tinghai, in order to " des- 
troy and wipe clean away, to exterminate and root out the 
rebellious barbarians," and urged the people to regard them 
with the same bitterness they did their personal enemies. His 
mandate is couched in strong terms, saying that his enemies 
have been rebellious against heaven, opposing reason, one in 
spirit with the brute beasts, " beings that the overshadowing 
vault and all-containing earth can hardly suffer to live," ob- 
noxious to angels and men, and that he must discharge his 
heaven-conferred trust by sweeping them from the face of the 
earth. This decree exhibited the true principles of action of 
this proud government, which deliberately rejected the offer of 



168 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

peace, and determined to uphold its fancied supremacy to the 
utmost. China must now win or break. 

Hostile intentions had become so evident that Captain Elliot 
announced that Commodore Bremer would return to the Bogue 
with the force ; the boats of the Nemesis were fired upon while 
sounding, and the battery near Anunghoy was attacked the 
same day that Chusan was evacuated. Rewards of $50,000 
were offered for Elliot, Bremer, Morrison, and other ringlead- 
ers, and all the defences put in the best condition. On Febru- 
ary 26th the Bogue forts were all taken, Admiral Kwan falling 
at his post. The British had nine ships, assisted by less than 
five hundred troops, and two steamers. The Chinese force was 
probably over three thousand, but it made no resistance after 
the batteries were taken ; the total loss was supposed to be not 
far from a thousand. The forts were built so solidly that few 
were killed by the broadsides of the ships, and their magazines 
so well protected that no explosions took place ; the powder 
found in them was used to demolish the walls. There were in 
all eight large forts on the sides of the river and Wangtong 
Island, forming altogether a line of batteries which would have 
been impregnable in the hands of European troops, and was not 
without reason deemed to be so by the Chinese themselves. 

The next day the small ships moved up to the First Bar, where 
a long fortification on the river bank, and an intrenched camp 
of two thousand troops, defended by upward of a hundred 
cannon, with a strong raft thrown across the river, showed a 
resolution to make a stand. The ships and steamers opened a 
hot fire upon the batteries and camp, which returned it as well 
as they could, but the loss of life was greatest when the English 
landed. Many instances of personal bravery showed that the 
Chinese were not all destitute of courage, but without disci- 
pline and better weapons it was of no avail. Nearly one-fourth 
were killed, their camp burned, the Chesapeake and all her 
stores blown up, and most of the crew killed. The raft was 
easily removed by the steamers, to the mortification of the 
Chinese, who had trusted that this might prove a permanent 
barrier to the approach of ships to the city. From this point 
the way was open to within five miles of Canton, and when the 



CAPTURE OF THE APPROACHES TO CANTON. 169 

forts at that place were taken, the prefect met Captain Elliot On 
March 3d with a flag of truce proposing a suspension of hos- 
tilities for three days. 

Kishen had already been ordered to return to Peking to 
await his trial ; his memorial 1 on hearing of his degradation 
does him credit, lliang was left in command of the province 
until four general officers, leading large bodies of troops, should 
arrive. The highest of these was Yihshan, a nephew of the 
Emperor, assisted by Yang Fang, Lungwan, and Tsishin. On 
the part of the English, Major-General Sir Hugh Gough arrived 
from India to take command of the land forces, and Sir Gordon 
Bremer sailed for Calcutta to procure recruits. Bodies of troops 
were gathering in and around Canton to the amount of five 
or six thousand, most of whom had come from the North- 
West Provinces, and were not less strange and formidable to 
the citizens than were their foreign enemies. 

After the truce had expired the English moved toward Can- 
ton by both the channels leading to the city, the iron steamer 
Nemesis proceeding up the Inner Passage, subduing all obstacles 
in her way until every fort, raft, battery, camp, and stockade 
between the ocean and Canton had been taken or destroyed, 
and the city lay at their mercy. The factories had been kept 
safely, and were occupied by British troops just two years 
after Lin had imprisoned the foreigners there. A second truce 
was agreed upon March 20th, by which trade was allowed to 
proceed on the old mode ; merchant ships accordingly advanced 
up the river, and for about six weeks trade went on uninter- 
ruptedly — one party getting their tea and the other their duties. 
The new governor, Ki Ivung, together with the " rebel-quelling 
general " Yihshan, then arrived, and the people, thinking that a 
slight cause would disturb the truce, took advantage of it to re- 
move their effects, well aware how much they would suffer from 
their own army in case of trouble. 

Toward the middle of May the hostile intentions of the Chi- 
nese were manifest, though cloaked under professions of amity ; 
and on the 21st Captain Elliot notified all foreigners to go 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. X. , p. 235. 



170 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

aboard ship. The secret preparations for attack were very ex- 
tensive. Large fire-boats and rafts were prepared, masked bat- 
teries erected along the river, troops quartered in the temples, 
and large cannon placed in the streets. The day before the 
notice of Captain Elliot was issued, the prefect had the impu- 
dence to publish a proclamation assuring all classes of . the 
peaceful intentions of the commissioners. Finding their prey 
gone, a night attack was made by land and water on the ships, 
but none were seriously injured. As daylight advanced the 
Nemesis went in pursuit of the fire-boats and junks, and burned 
upward of sixty, while three men-of-war silenced the batteries 
along shore. Meantime the Chinese troops searched the fac- 
tory buildings for arms and pillaged three of the hongs, to the 
consternation of the prefect, who told the commissioner that he 
would be forced to pay for losses thus sustained. On the 24th 
the land and naval forces under Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Flem- 
ing Senhouse arrived from Hongkong and prepared to invest 
the city. Most of the troops debarked above it, at Neishing, 
under the personal directions of Sir Fleming, who had provided 
many boats in which the force of two thousand six hundred 
men, besides followers, guns, and stores, were towed about 
twelve miles. A detachment landed and took possession of the 
factories. Sir Sugh Gough remained near the place of de- 
barkation till the next morning, when the whole body moved 
onward to attack the forts and camps behind the city. As the 
English advanced the Chinese found that their shot did not 
reach them, so that after an hour's firing they began to collect 
outside of the forts, preparatory to retiring. The advance 
pushed on, and sent them scampering down the hills toward 
the city ; the intrenched camp was carried with considerable 
loss to its defenders, who everywhere ran as soon as the fight 
came to close quarters ; but in the forts. there were many furious 
struggles. 

On the 26th a driving rain stopped all operations ; and a 
parley was also requested from the now deserted city walls by 
two officers, who agreed to send a deputation to make arrange- 
ments for surrender. Night came on before any heralds ap- 
peared, so that it was not till morning that the troops were in 



THE CITY RANSOMED. 171 

position, the guns loaded and primed, port-fires lighted, and 
everything in readiness to open fire, when a messenger ar- 
rived from Captain Elliot, desiring further operations to be 
delayed until he had concluded his negotiations. The terms 
were : that the forces should remain in position until a ransom 
of $6,000,000 was paid ; that the three imperial commissioners 
and all their troops should march sixty miles from the city ; 
that compensation for the loss of property in the factories and 
burning the Spanish brig Bilbaino should be at once handed 
over or secured ; and that the Chinese troops, nearly fifty thou- 
sand in number, should evacuate the city. Captain Elliot ought 
indeed to have demanded a personal apology from Yihshan and 
his colleagues for their infamous treachery before letting them 
go. His acceptance of this ransom and sparing the city from 
capture were sharply criticised at the time, and the contemp- 
tuous bearing of the citizens during the sixteen ensuing years 
of their possession proved that it was an ill-timed mercy. How 
much influence the orders from home to be careful of the tea- 
trade had in this course cannot be learned. 

While the English forces were occupying the heights the 
lawless soldiers from Ivweichau and Kwangsi began to plunder 
the citizens, who retaliated till blood was shed and more than a 
thousand persons were killed in the streets ; a patriot mob of 
villagers, numbering about fifteen thousand, attacked the few 
British troops left on the hills north of the city, but a prompt 
advance on the part of Sir Hugh drove this rabble a rout of 
some three miles. Upon their reappearance next day, the pre- 
fect was told that if they were not instantly dispersed the city 
would be bombarded ; the threats and persuasions of the com- 
missioners, aided by a British officer, finally induced the mob to 
retire. The superiority of discipline over mere numbers was 
probably never more remarkably exhibited ; though the Chinese 
outnumbered the English more than forty to one, not a single 
foreigner was killed. 

On the 31st the prefect furnished five hundred coolies to as- 
sist in transporting the guns and stores to the river side, and 
ten days after Captain Elliot's first notice everything was re- 
stored to the Chinese. The casualties among the British forces 



172 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

were fourteen killed and one hundred and twelve wounded, but 
about three hundred died from sickness. The losses of the 
Chinese from first to last could hardly have been much under 
five thousand men, besides thousands of cannon, ginjals, and 
matchlocks. In posting their forces, placing their masked bat- 
teries, and equipping their troops and forts, the Chinese showed 
considerable strategy and skill, but lack of discipline and confi- 
dence rendered every defence unavailing. Yihshan and his as- 
sociates memorialized the Emperor, detailing their reasons for 
ransoming the city and requesting an inquiry into their conduct. 1 

The sickness of the troops compelled the British force to 
remain at Hongkong to recruit and wait for reinforcements. 
Commodore Bremer returned as joint plenipotentiary, bringing 
additional forces from Calcutta, and the expedition was on the 
point of sailing northward when both he and Captain Elliot 
were wrecked in a tyfoon, and this detained the ships a few 
days longer. Before they sailed Sir Henry Pottinger and Ad- 
miral Sir William Parker arrived direct from England to super- 
sede them both. Sir Henry announced his appointment and 
duties, and also sent a communication to the governor of Can- 
ton, assuring him that the existing truce would be observed as 
long as the Chinese did not arm their forts, impede the regular 
trade, which had been lately reopened to British ships by im- 
perial command, or trouble the merchants residing in the fac- 
tories. The trade went on at Canton, after this, without any 
serious interruption during the war, the usual duties and 
charges being paid as if no hostilities existed. 

The expedition moved northward, August 21st, under the 
joint command of Sir Hugh Gough and Admiral Parker, con- 
sisting of two seventy-fours and seven other ships of war, four 
steamers, twenty-three transports, and a surveying vessel, carry- 
ing in all about three thousand five hundred troops. Six ships 
and four or five hundred Indian troops remained off Canton 
and at Hongkong, to compel the observance of the truce. The 
force reached Amoy, and after a hasty reconnoissance attacked 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. X. (p. 402), in which, and in Vols. VIII., IX., 
and XI., most of the official papers issued from the Chinese and English au- 
thorities during the war are contained. 



FALL OF AMOY AND TINGHAI. 173 

all its defences, which were carried without much loss of life on 
either side. The city was taken on the 27th, and all the arms 
and public stores, wall-pieces, ginjals, matchlocks, shields, uni- 
forms, bows, arrows, spears, and quantities of powder were des- 
troyed ; five hundred cannon were found in the forts. When 
H. M. S. Blonde came into this harbor, fourteen months pre- 
vious, to deliver the letter for Peking, the fortifications consisted 
only of two or three forts near the city, but every island and pro- 
tecting headland overlooking the harbor had since been occupied 
and armed, while a line of stone wall more than a mile long, with 
embrasures roofed by large slabs covered with earth to protect 
the guns, had been built, and batteries and bastions erected at 
well-chosen points. The broadsides of the ships had little effect 
here, and it was not until the troops landed and drove out the 
garrisons, who "stood right manfully to their guns," that the 
fire slackened, and the Chinese retreated. The city was com- 
pletely pillaged by native robbers, who ran riot during several 
weeks until the craven authorities came back and resumed their 
functions. The island of Kulang su was garrisoned by a de- 
tachment of five hundred and fifty troops, and three ships left 
to protect them. The British found one two-decker among the 
war junks, built on a foreign model, launched and ready for 
sea, carrying twenty guns ; all were burned. 

The English fleet again entered the harbor of Tinghai, Septem- 
ber 29th, and found the beach much altered since February. 
Stone walls and fortifications extended two miles in front of the 
suburbs, besides sand-bags and redoubts thrown up on well-se- 
lected positions. They were taken after a defence marked with 
unusual courage ; the general commanding the battery and all his 
suite were killed at their posts, and many hand-to-hand conflicts 
took place. But bravery and numbers were alike unavailing, 
and in two hours their defences were cleared, the walls of the 
town escaladed, the whole force scattered, and the island sub- 
dued, with the estimated loss to the Chinese of a thousand men. 
Great quantities of ordnance, among which were forty brass 
guns made in imitation of foreign howitzers, with military 
stores and provisions in abundance, were seized. A detachment 
was sent throughout the island to drive off the enemy's troops, 



174 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

and announce to the inhabitants that they were now under Eng- 
lish authority. They evinced none of the alarm they had done 
the year before; provisions came in, shops were opened, and 
confidence in these proclamations generally exhibited. A mili- 
tary government was appointed, and a garrison of four hundred 
men left to protect the island. 

The military operations in Chehkiang were conducted by 
Yukien and Yu Pu-yun ; both these men had urged war, and 
had done all they could to fortify Tinghai and Chinhai, whose 
batteries and magazines showed the vigor of their operations. 
The English fleet proceeded to Chinhai October 9th, and a force 
of about two thousand two hundred men, with twelve field 
pieces and mortars, landed next morning to attack the citadel 
and intrenched camp. There were nearly five thousand men in 
this position, who formed in good order as the English advanced, 
opening a well-directed fire upon the front column, but quite 
neglecting two detachments on their flanks ; as the three opened 
upon them nearly simultaneously, their force was completely 
bewildered, and all soon broke and fled. Knowing nothing of 
the mode of asking for quarter, while some fled into the country, 
the greater part retreated toward the water, pursued by the 
three columns, hundreds being shot and hundreds drowned. Sir 
Hugh Gough sent out a flag with Chinese written upon it, to 
inform them that their lives would be spared if they yielded, but 
not more than Ave hundred either could or would throw down 
their arms. The water was soon covered with bodies, and fully 
fifteen hundred soldiers lost their lives. The town and its 
defences were bombarded, and the troops driven out. Yukien 
endeavored to drown himself on seeing the day was lost, 
but being prevented he retreated to Yiiyau, where he com- 
mitted suicide, as was said, by swallowing gold leaf. He was a 
Manchu, and could not brook his master's displeasure; but his 
atrocious cruelty to two Englishmen who fell into his hands, 
one of whom was flayed and then burnt to death, had aroused 
general detestation against him. About one hundred and fifty 
pieces of brass ordnance, with great quantities of gunpowder 
and other military stores, were destroyed. The guns and car- 
riages in the fort and batteries were so well made and placed 



CAPTURE OF CHINHAI AND NINGPO. 175 

that in some cases the victors on entering turned them against 
the flying Chinese. The frame of a wheel vessel, intended to 
be moved by human power, was found near Chinhai, showing, 
as did the brass guns, traversing carriages, and frigate at Amoy, 
that the Chinese were already imitating the machinery of war 
from their foes. 

Kingpo was taken without resistance on the 13th. Many of 
the people left the city, and those who remained shut them- 
selves in their houses, writing shun min, ' submissive people, 5 
on the doors. Captain Anstruther took possession of his old 
prison — where he found the identical cage he had been carried 
in — and released all the inmates to make way for his detachment 
of artillery. About $100,000 in sycee were found in this build- 
ing, upward of $70,000 in the treasury, many tons of copper 
cash in the mint, and rice, silk, and porcelain in the public 
stores, forming altogether the most valuable prizes yet secured. 
Sir Henry Pottinger intended at first to burn the city, but, hap- 
pily for his reputation, he decided to occupy it as winter quar- 
ters. Leaving a garrison at Chinhai, he returned to Hongkong 
in February, 1842, Sir Hugh and the admiral remaining at the 
north. 

The fall of Amoy, Tinghai, Chinhai, and Mngpo, instead of 
disheartening the Emperor, served rather to inspirit him. His 
commissioners, generals, and high officers generally did the best 
their knowledge and means enabled them to do, and when de- 
feated, endeavored to palliate the discomfiture they could not 
entirely conceal by misrepresenting the force brought against 
them, and laying the blame upon the common people, the ele- 
ments, the native traitors who aided the British, or the ineffi- 
ciency of the naval armaments. The troops sent home with 
tokens of victory from Canton stimulated the war spirit in the 
western provinces. After they had gone Yihshan concocted 
measures of defence, one of which was to enlist two or 
three thousand volunteers, or "village braves," near the city, 
and place them under their own officers. The people having 
been taught to despise foreigners were easily incensed against 
them, and several cases of insult and wantonness were repeated 
and magnified in order to stir up a spirit of revenge. These 



176 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

patriots supposed, moreover, that if the great Emperor had 
called on them, instead of entrusting the conduct of the quarrel 
to truckling traitorous poltroons like Kishen and the prefect, 
they could have avenged him of his enemies. 

Consequently the truce was soon broken in an underhand 
manner by sinking hundreds of tons of stones in the river. 
II. M. S. Koyalist levelled the fortifications at the Bogue, and 
Captain Nias destroyed a number of boats at Whampoa. After 
the destruction of these forts and his retirement from the river, 
Yihshan directed his attention to erecting forts near the city, 
casting guns, and drilling the volunteers, who numbered nearly 
thirty thousand at the new year. He also gave a public dinner 
to the rich men of the city, in order to learn their willingness 
to contribute to the expenses of these measures. However, 
since no serious obstacles were placed in the way of shipping 
teas by the provincial officers, from the duties on which they 
chiefly derived the funds for these undertakings, the British 
officers deemed it advisable to let them alone. 

The case was different at other points. The imperial govern- 
ment had supposed that Amoy would be attacked, because the 
visit of the Blonde showed that the barbarians, u sneaking in 
and out like rats," knew of its existence ; but the people of that 
province, except near Amoy, took no particular interest in the 
dispute, and probably knew far less of it than was known in 
most parts of England and the United States ; no newspapers, 
with " own correspondents " to write the " latest accounts from 
the seat of war," narrated the progress of this struggle, which to 
them was like the silent reflection of distant lightning in their 
own quiet firmament. The sack of Amoy was a heavy blow to 
its. citizens, but the plunderers were mostly their countrymen ; 
and when Captain Smith of the Druid had been there a short 
time in command, and his character became known, they re- 
turned to their houses and shops, supplied the garrison with pro- 
visions, and even brought back a deserter, and assisted in chas- 
ing some pirates. Humors of attack were always brought to 
him, and his declarations allayed their fears, so that after the 
sub-prefect resumed his authority no disturbance occurred. The 
explanations of the missionaries on Kulang su. in diffusing a 



DETERMINED MEASURES OF DEFENCE. 177 

better understanding of the object in occupying that island, also 
contributed to this result. 

The loss o£ Chinhai and Ningpo threw the eastern parts of 
Chehkiang open to the invaders, and alarmed the court far more 
than the destruction of Canton would have done. The Emperor 
appointed his nephew, Yihking, to be " majesty-bearing general- 
issimo," and with him Tih-i-shun and Wanwei, all Manchus, to 
command the grand army and arouse the dwellers on the sea- 
coast to arm and defend themselves. " Ministers and people ! 
Inhabitants of our dominions ! Ye are all the children of our 
dynasty ! For two centuries ye have trod our earth and eaten 
our food. Whoever among you has heavenly goodness must 
needs detest these rebellious and disorderly barbarians even as 
ye do your personal foes. On no account allow yourselves to be 
deceived by their wiles, and act or live abroad with them." 
Such was the closing exhortation of an imperial proclamation 
issued to encourage them. In order to raise funds for its opera- 
tions, the government resorted to the sale of office and titles 
of nobility, and levied benevolences from rich individuals and 
contributions from the people ; which, when large in amount, 
were noticed and rewarded. Kishen, who had been tried at 
Peking and sentenced to lose his life, was for some reason re- 
prieved to be associated with Yihking as an adviser, but never 
proceeded beyond Chihli. Lin was also recalled from lli, if 
indeed he ever went beyond the Great Wall, and llipu, whose 
treatment and release of the prisoners at Ningpo had gained 
him the good-will of the English, was also sentenced to banish- 
ment, but neither did he go beyond the Desert. 

Defences were thrown up at Tientsin and Taku to guard the 
passage to the capital, but the bar at the mouth of the Pei ho 
was its sufficient protection. Fearing that the English would 
advance upon the city of Hangchau, the troops of the province 
and all its available means were put into requisition. Sir Hugh 
Grough could only approach it by a land march from Ningpo, 
and deemed it advisable to wait for reinforcements, his available 
force being reduced to six hundred men on entering that city. 
The rewards given to the families of those who had fallen in 
battle, and the posthumous honors conferred by the Emperor, 



178 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

stimulated others to deeds of valor and a determination to 
accomplish their master's vengeance. Yukien, " who gave his 
life for his country, casting himself into the water," received 
high titular honors in the hall of worthies, and his brother was 
permitted to bring his corpse within the city of Peking. The 
names of humbler servants were not forgotten in the imperial 
rescripts, and a place was granted them among those whom the 
" king delighteth to honor." Thus did the Chinese endeavor 
to reassert their supremacy, though their counsels and eiforts 
to chastise the rebellious barbarians were not unlike the delib- 
erations of the rats upon " how to bell the cat." 

The occupation of Mngpo was an eyesore to the Chinese 
generals, but the citizens had learned their best interests and 
generally kept quiet. They showed their genius in various con- 
trivances to cany off plunder, such as putting valuable articles 
in coffins and ash-baskets, wrapping them around corpses, pack- 
ing them under vegetables or rubbish. One party overtook two 
persons near Ningpo running off with a basket between them ; 
on overtaking and recovering it, a well-dressed lady was found 
coiled up, who, however, did not scream when detected. Another 
was found in a locker on board a junk, and as the captain was 
desirous of examining the mode of bandaging her feet, he told 
his men to lift the body out of the closet, when a scream ex- 
plained the trick ; she was dismissed, and the money she had 
endeavored to hide put into her hands. Opium was found in 
most of the official residences ; its sale received no serious check 
from the war, and no reference was made to it by either party. 

Toward the end of the year 1841, information was received 
of the collection of a large force at Yiiyau. Two iron steamers 
soon landed seven hundred men, who took up a position for the 
night, intending to escalade the walls in the morning ; but their 
defenders evacuated the place. The marines and seamen took 
the circuit of the walls, and found the troops, about a thousand 
strong, drawn up in array ; and the two, after exchanging their 
fire, started on the run. The public stores were destroyed, and 
the town left to the care of its citizens, without much loss of life 
on either side. On his return the general visited Tsz'kf, but 
the troops and the authorities had decamped. The rice found in 



CHINESE ATTEMPT TO RECAPTURE JSTNGPO. 179 

the granaries was distributed to the townsmen, and the detach- 
ment returned to Ningpo December 31st. On a similar visit to 
Funghwa it was found that the authorities and troops had fled, 
so that to destroy the government stores and distribute the rice 
to the people was all that remained to be done. These two 
expeditions so terrified the "majesty-bearing generalissimo," 
Yihking, and his colleagues, that they fled to Suchau, in 
Kiangsu. With such leaders it is not strange that the villagers 
near Ningpo wished to enrol themselves under British rule; 
and the effect of the moderation of the English troops was seen 
in the people giving them little or no molestation after the first 
alarm was over, and supplying their wants as far as possible. 

The force had fairly settled in its quarters at Ningpo, when 
the Chinese opened the campaign, March 10th, by a well-con- 
certed night attack on the city. During the preceding day, 
many troops entered the city in citizen's clothes, and stationed 
themselves near the gates ; and about three o'clock in the morn- 
ing the western and southern gates were attacked and driven 
in. Colonel Morris ordered a party to retake the south gate, 
which was done, with considerable loss to the enemy ; as usually 
happened, the moment the Chinese were opposed their main 
object was forgotten, and every man sought his own safety, 
thereby exposing himself more fully to destruction. On the 
approach of daylight the garrison assembled at the western 
gate, and dragging two or three howitzers through it, came 
upon the main force of the enemy drawn up in compact form, 
headed by an officer on horseback. The volleys poured into 
this dense mass mowed them down so that the street was choked 
with dead bodies, and the horse of the leader actually covered 
with corpses, from which he was seen vainly endeavoring to 
release himself. Those who escaped the fire in front were 
attacked in rear ; at last about six hundred were killed, and the 
whole force of five thousand scattered by less than two hundred 
Europeans, with the loss of one man killed and six wounded. 

The British then prepared to attack an intrenched camp of 
eight thousand troops near Tsz'ki, and about twelve hundred 
were embarked in the steamers. The Chinese had chosen their 
ground well, on the acclivity of two hills behind the town, and 



180 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

in order to confound and disperse their enemy completely, the 
attacking force was divided so as to fall upon them on three 
sides simultaneously, which was done with great slaughter. The 
Chinese did not run until they began to close in with their 
opponents, when they soon found that their intimidating ges- 
ticulations and cheers, their tiger-faced shields and two-edged 
swords, were of no avail in terrifying the barbarians or resist- 
ing their pistols, bayonets, and furious onset. In these cases, 
emulation among the different parties of English troops to 
distinguish themselves occasionally degenerated into unmanly 
slaughter of their flying enemy, who were looked upon rather 
as good game than fellow-men, and pursued in some instances 
several miles. Most of the Chinese troops in this engagement 
and in the attack on Ningpo were from the western provinces, and 
superior in size and bodily strength to those hitherto met. They 
had been encouraged to attack Ningpo by a bounty to each man 
of four or five dollars, and pieces of sycee were found on their 
bodies. The Chinese lost a thousand slain on the field, many by 
their own act ; the English casualties were six killed and thirty- 
seven wounded. 

The conquerors set fire to the Chinese camp in the morning, 
consuming all the houses used as arsenals, with arms and ammu- 
nition of every kind. The force then proceeded to the Changki 
pass, a defile in the mountains, but the imperialists had aban- 
doned their camp, leaving only "a considerable quantity of 
good bread." In his despatch Sir Hugh speaks of the forbear- 
ance shown by his men toward the inhabitants ; and efforts 
were taken by the English, throughout the war, to spare the 
people and respect their property. The English thus dispersed 
that part of the Grand Army which had been called out by the 
Emperor and his " majesty -bearing generalissimo " to annihilate 
the rebels. The fugitives spread such dismay among their 
comrades near Hangchau that the troops began to desert and 
exhibit symptoms of disbanding altogether ; the spirit of dis- 
satisfaction was, moreover, increased by the people, who very 
naturally grumbled at being obliged to support their unsuccess- 
ful defenders, as well as submit to their tyrannous exactions. 

The Chinese near Ningpo and Chinhai had so much conn- 



CAPTURE OF TSZ'KI A^D CHAPU. 181 

dence in the English, and were so greatly profited by their 
presence, that no disturbances took place. The rewards offered 
by the Chinese generals for prisoners induced the people to lay 
in wait for stragglers. One, Sergeant Campbell, was seized 
near Tinghai, put into a bag to be carried to the coast, where he 
was shipped in a junk and landed at Chapu, before being re- 
lieved of his hood. One of his ears was cut off with a pair of 
scissors, but after reaching Hangchau he was well treated. 
During his captivity there he was often questioned by the Chi- 
nese officers as to the movements, forces, and arms of his coun- 
trymen, and received a high idea of their intelligence from the 
character of their inquiries. 

The entire strength with Sir Hugh Gough, in May, consisted 
of parts of four English regiments, a naval brigade of two hun- 
dred and fifty, and a few Indian troops, in all about two 
thousand Hve hundred men ; the fleet comprised seven ships of 
war and four steamers. On the 17th the whole anchored in 
the harbor of Chapu, about forty miles above Chinhai. About 
six thousand three hundred Chinese troops and one thousand 
seven hundred Manchus were posted here in forts and intrenched 
camps. The English landed in three columns, as usual without 
opposition, and promptly turned the orderly arranged army and 
garrisons of their opponents into a mass of fugitives, each man 
throwing away his arms and uniform and flying a jpas de geant. 
A body of three hundred Manchus, seeing their retreat cut 
off, retired into an enclosed temple, whose entrance was both 
narrow and dark. Every one who attempted to enter it was 
either killed or wounded, one of whom was Lieutenant-Colonel 
Tomlinson. At length a part of the wall was blown in, which 
exposed the inmates to the rifles of their foes, and a rocket or 
two set the building on fire, by which the inmates were driven 
from their position to the rooms below ; when resistance ceased 
only fifty were taken prisoners, the others having been burned 
to death or suffocated. The total loss of the invaders was thir- 
teen killed and fifty-two wounded. 

The defences of Chapu being carried, with a loss to the 
enemy of about one thousand five hundred, the English moved 
on the city. This was the first time the Manchus had really 



182 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

come in contact with the English ; and either fearing that indis- 
criminate slaughter would ensue on defeat, as it would have 
done had they been the victors, or else unable to brook their 
disgrace, they destroyed themselves in great numbers, first im- 
molating their wives and children, and then cutting their own 
throats. Scores of bodies were found in their quarters, some 
not entirely dead ; others were prevented from self-destruction, 
and in many instances, young children were found attending 
upon their aged or infirm parents, awaiting in dread suspense 
the visit of the conquerors, from whom they expected little less 
than instant destruction. The English surgeons endeavored to 
bind up the wounds of such Chinese as fell in their way, and 
these attentions had a good effect upon the high Chinese offi- 
cers, llipu himself sending a letter in which he thanked the 
general and admiral for their kindness in giving the hungry 
rice to eat and caring for the wounded. The old man endeav- 
ored to requite it by making the condition of his prisoners as 
easy as he could, and paid them money on their release. When 
the English generals, having destroyed all the government 
stores, re-embarked, the prisoners were released with a small 
present, and on their return to Hangchau loudly proclaimed 
their praises of the foreigners. 

The expedition proceeded northward to the mouth of the 
Yangtsz' kiang, and reached the embouchure of the Wusung, 
where the ships took their allotted positions, June 16th, before 
the well-built stone batteries, extending full three miles along 
the western banks of the river. One of these works enclosed 
the town of Paushan and mounted one hundred and thirty-four 
guns ; the others counted altogether one hundred and seventy- 
five guns, forty-two of which were brass. These defences were 
manned by a well-selected force, under the command of Chin 
Hwa-ching. The ships had scarcely taken their stations when 
the batteries opened, and both sides kept up a cannonading for 
about two hours, the Chinese working their guns with much 
skill and effect. When the marines landed and entered, they 
bravely measured weapons with them, and died at their posts. 
Among the war junks were several new wheel-boats, having two 
wooden paddle-w T heels turned by a capstan, which interlocked 



FALL OF THE WUSUNG BATTERIES. 183 

its cogs into those upon the shaft, and was worked by men on 
the gun -deck. These were paddling out of danger, when the 
steamers overtook and silenced them. The number of Chinese 
killed was about one hundred, out of not less than five thousand 
men composing the garrison and army. The governor-general, 
Mu Kien, who was present, in reporting the loss of the forts 
and dispersion of the troops, says he braved the hottest of the 
light, "where cannon-balls innumerable, flying in awful con- 
fusion through the expanse of heaven, fell before, behind, and 
on either side of him ; while in the distance he saw the ships 
of the rebels standing erect, lofty as the mountains. The fierce 
daring of the rebels was inconceivable ; officers and men fell at 
their posts. Every effort to resist and check the onset was in 
vain, and a retreat became inevitable." 

Among the killed was General Chin, who had taken unwea- 
ried pains to drill his troops, appoint them to their places, and 
inspirit them with his own courageous self-devotion. In a 
memoir of him, it is said that on the morning of the attack " he 
arrayed himself in his robes of state, and having prayed to 
heaven and earth, ordered all his officers and soldiers to get 
their arms and ammunition ready." Xiu Kien's conduct was 
not such as to cheer them on, and most of the officers " came 
forward and begged to retire " when they saw the dilapidated 
state of the batteries. Chin's second suggested a retreat when 
the marines entered the battery, but he drew his sword upon 
him, saying, " My confidence in you has been misplaced." He 
again inspirited his men, himself loading and firing the ginjals, 
and fell pierced with wounds on the walls of the fort, bowing 
his head as he died in the direction of the Emperor's palace. 
His Majesty paid him high honors, by erecting shrines to him 
in his native village and at the place where he fell ; in the 
Ching-hwang miao at Shanghai there is a sitting image of him 
in his robes of state, before which incense is burned. A reward 
of a thousand taels was given his family, and his son was made 
a kii-jin by special patent. In this notice it is stated as a cur- 
rent rumor in Shanghai, that about a fortnight after his death 
Chin sent down the news through the divining altar at Sung- 
kiang, that he had been promoted by the Supreme Ruler of 



184 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Heaven to the rank of second general-in-chief of the Board of 
Thunder, so that although he could not, while alive, repay the 
imperial favor by exterminating the rebels, he could still afford 
some aid to his country. 

The stores of every kind were destroyed, except the brass 
pieces, among which were one Spanish gun of old date, and 
a Chinese piece more than three centuries old, both of them 
of singular shape, the latter being like a small-mouthed jar. 
The British landed on the 19th, two thousand in all, and pro- 
ceeded to Shanghai by land. After the capture of Wusung, 
Mr. Gutzlaff, who accompanied the admiral as interpreter, suc- 
ceeded in reassuring the people and inducing them to stay in 
their dwellings ; he was also employed in procuring provisions. 
The ships silenced two small batteries near the city with a 
single broadside, and the troops entered it without resistance. 
The good effects of previous kindness shown the people in 
respecting their property were here seen. Captain Loch says 
that on the march along the banks he passed through two vil- 
lages where the shops were open, with their owners in them, 
and that groups of people were assembled on the right and left 
to see them pass. The troops occupied the arsenals, the pawn- 
brokers' shops, and the temples, destroying all the government 
stores and distributing the rice in the granaries among the 
people. The total number of cannon taken was three hundred 
and eighty-eight, of which seventy-six were of brass ; some of 
the latter were named " tamer and subduer of the barbarians ;" 
others, "the robbers' judgment," and one piece twelve feet long- 
was called the "Barbarian." The citizens voluntarily came 
forward to supply provisions, and stated that there Jiad been a 
serious affray in the city a few days before between them and 
their officers, who wished to levy a subsidy for the defence of 
the city, which even then they were on the point of abandoning. 
The boats before the walls were crowded with inhabitants flying 
with their property, many of whom returned in a few days. 

The troops retired from Shanghai June 23d, leaving it less 
injured than any city yet taken, owing chiefly to the efforts 
made by the people themselves to protect their property. Tho 
eight hundred junks and upward lying off the town were un* 



SHANGHAI TAKEN. 185 

harmed, but their owners no doubt were made to contribute 
toward the $300,000 exacted as a ransom. Sir Henry Pottinger 
now rejoined the expedition, accompanied by Lord Saltoun, 
with large reinforcements for both arms, and immediate pre- 
parations were made for proceeding up the Yangtsz', to inter- 
rupt the communication by the Grand Canal across that river. 
The Chinese officers, unable to read any European language, 
learned the designs of their enemy chiefly by rumors, which 
natives in the employ of the English brought them, and conse- 
quently not unfrequently misled his Majesty — unwittingly, in 
mentioning the wrong places likely to be attacked, but wilfully 
as to their numbers and conduct in the hour of victory. The 
fall of Shanghai and the probable march upon Sungkiang and 
Suchau greatly alarmed him, and he now began to think that 
the rebels really intended to proceed up to Nanking and the 
Grand Canal, which he had been assured was not their purpose. 

He accordingly concentrated his troops at Chinkiang, Nan- 
king, Suchau, and Tientsin, four places which he feared were 
in danger, and associated Kiying and Ilipu as commissioners 
with the governor-general, Niu Kien, to superintend civil affairs ; 
military matters were still left under the management of the 
imbecile Yihking. Only a few places on the Yangtsz' kiang 
offered eligible positions for forts, and Niu Kien wisely declined 
to stake the Great River at Chinkiang, lest it should alarm the 
inhabitants. Eire-rafts and boats were, however, ordered for 
the defence of that city, and reinforcements of troops collected 
there and at Nanking, some of whom were encamped with- 
uot the city, and part incorporated with the garrison. The 
tone of the documents which fell into the hands of the English 
showed the anxiety felt at court regarding the result of this 
movement up the river. 

The British plenipotentiary published and circulated a mani- 
festo at this date for " the information of the people of the 
country." In this paper he enumerated, in much the same 
manner as Captain Elliot had done, the grievances the English 
had suffered at Canton from the spoliations, insults, and impris- 
onment inflicted upon them by Lin in order to extort opium, 
which was given up by the English superintendent to rescue 



186 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

himself and his countrymen from death. The duplicity of the 
Chinese government in sending down Kishen as a commissioner 
to Canton to arrange matters, and then, while he was negotiat- 
ing, to break off the treaty and treacherously resort to war, was 
another "grand instance of offence against England." The bad 
treatment of kidnapped prisoners, the mendacious reports of 
victories gained over the English, which misled the Emperor 
and retarded the settlement of the war, was another cause of 
offence. The restriction of the trade to Canton, establishment 
of the monopoly of the hong merchants, the oppressive and un- 
just exactions imposed upon it through their scheming, and 
many other minor grievances which need not be enumerated, 
formed the last count in this indictment. Three things must 
be granted before peace could be made, viz., the cession of an 
island for commerce and the residence of merchants ; compen- 
sation for losses and expenses ; and allowing a friendly and 
becoming intercourse between the officers of the two countries 
on terms of equality. This proclamation, however, made no 
mention of the real cause of the war, the opium trade, and in 
that respect was far from being an ingenuous, fair statement of 
the question. It was much more like one of Napoleon's bulle- 
tins in the Moniteur. and considering the moral and intellectual 
condition of Great Britain and China, failed to uphold the high 
standing of the former. 

While Sir Henry Pottinger knew that the use of this drug 
was one of the greatest evils which afflicted the people, he 
should have, in a document of this nature, left no room for the 
supposition, on the part of either ruler or subject, that the war 
was undertaken to uphold and countenance the opium trade. 
He could not have been ignorant that the Emperor and his 
ministers supposed the unequal contest they were waging was 
caused by their unsuccessful efforts to suppress the traffic ; and 
that if they were defeated the opium trade must goon unchecked. 
The question of supremacy was set at rest in this proclamation : 
it must be given up ; but no encouragement was held out to 
reassure the Chinese government in their lawful desire to restrain 
the tremendous scourge. Why should he ? If he encouraged 
any action against the trade, he could expect little promotion or 



PROCLAMATIONS ISSUED BY BOTH PARTIES. 187 

reward from his superiors in India or England, who looked to 
it for all the revenue it could be made to bring ; or considera- 
tion from the merchants, who would not thank him for telling 
the Chinese they might attack the opium clippers wherever they 
found them, and seize all the opium they could, and English 
power would not interfere. 

The Emperor issued a proclamation about the same time, 
recapitulating his conduct and efforts to put a stop to the war, 
stating what he had done to ward off calamity and repress the 
rebels. The opium trade, and his efforts for a long time to 
repress it, and especially the measures of Lin, are in this paper 
regarded as the causes of the war, which concludes by expressing 
his regrets for the sufferings and losses occasioned his subjects 
by the attacks of the English at Amoy, Chusan, Ningpo, and 
elsewhere, and exhorting them to renewed efforts. It is a mat- 
ter of lasting regret that the impression has been left upon the 
minds of the Chinese people that the war was an opium war, 
and waged chiefly to uphold it. But nations, like individuals, 
must usually trust to might more than right to maintain their 
standing ; and when conscious weakness leads them to adopt 
underhand measures to regain their rights, the temptation which 
led to these acts is rarely thought of in the day of retribution. 
The money demands of England were not deemed at the time 
to be exacting, but she should, and could at this time in an 
effectual manner, through her plenipotentiary, have cleared her- 
self from all sanction of this traffic. If Lord Melbourne could 
wish it were a less objectionable traffic, Sir Henry Pottinger 
might surely have intimated, in as public a manner, his regret at 
its existence. He probably did not deem the use of opium very 
deleterious. 

The number of ships, steamers, transports, and all in the 
expedition, when it left Wusung, July 6th, was seventy-two, 
most of them large vessels. They were arranged in five divisions, 
with an advance squadron of five small steamers and tenders to 
survey the river, each division having a frigate or seventy-four 
at its head. The world has seldom seen a more conspicuous 
instance of the superiority of a small body possessing science, 
skill, and discipline, over immense multitudes of undisciplined, 



188 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ignorant, and distrustful soldiers, than was exhibited in this bold 
manoeuvre. Rot to speak alone of the great disparity in num- 
bers, the distant quarters of the globe whence the ships were 
collected, the many languages and tribes found in the invading 
force, the magnitude of their ships, abundance of their supplies, 
and superiority of their weapons of war, the moral energy and 
confidence of power in this small troop over its ineffective adver- 
sary was not less conspicuous. The sight of such a fleet sailing 
up their Great Kiver struck the inhabitants with mingled aston- 
ishment and dread. 

Chinkiang lies half a mile from the southern bank of the 
Yangtsz', surrounded by a high wall four miles in circuit, and 
having hills of considerable elevation in its rear. The canal 
comes in from the south, close to the walls on its western side, 
and along the shores of both river and canal are extensive sub- 
urbs — at this time completely under the command of the guns 
of the ships, which could also bombard the city itself from sc me 
positions. A bluff hill on the north partly concealed the town 
from the ships, and it was not till this hill-top had been gained 
that the three Chinese encampments behind the city could be 
seen. The general divided his small force of seven thousand 
men into three brigades, under the command of Major- Generals 
Lord Saltoun, Schoedde, and Bartley, besides an artillery brigade 
of five hundred and seventy rank and file, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Montgomerie. The Chinese encampments contained 
more than three thousand men, most of them soldiers from 
Hupeh and Chehkiang provinces. The Manchu garrison within 
the city consisted of one thousand two hundred regular troops 
and eight hundred Mongols from Koko-nor, together with eight 
hundred and thirty-five Chinese troops, making altogether from 
two thousand six hundred to two thousand eight hundred fight- 
ing men ; the entire force was under the command of Hailing, 
who had made such a disposition of his troops and strengthened 
his means of defence as well as the time allowed. He closes his 
last communication to the Emperor with the assurance that " he 
cannot do otherwise than exert his whole heart and strength in 
endeavors to repay a small fraction of the favors he has enjoyed 
from his government." 



ATTACK UPON CHINKIANG. 189 

The right brigade, under Lord Saltoun, soon drove the im- 
perialists out of their camp, who did not wait for his near 
approach, but broke and dispersed after firing three or four dis- 
tant volleys. Captain Loch says that while the party of volun- 
teers were approaching the camp, they passed through a small 
hamlet on the hills ; " the village had not been deserted ; some 
of the houses were closed, while the inhabitants of others were 
standing in the streets staring at us in stupid wonder ; and 
although they were viewing a contest between foreigners and 
their fellow-countrymen, and in danger themselves of being 
shot, were coolly eating their meals." 

The centre brigade, under Major-Gen eral Schoedde, landed 
on the northern corner of the city, to escalade the walls on that 
side and prevent the troops from the camp entering the gates. 
He was received by a well-sustained fire, his men placing their 
ladders and mounting in the face of a determined resistance ; as 
soon as they gained the parapet they drove the Tartars before 
them, though their passage was bravely disputed. While they 
were mounting the walls a fire was kept up on the city on the 
northern and eastern sides, under cover of which, after clearing 
the ramparts, they proceeded to the western gate, conquering 
all opposition in the northern part of the city, and driving the 
Tartars to the southern quarter. 

The left brigade, under Major-General Bartley, did not reach 
the western side as soon as was expected, being delayed by the 
canal, here between seventy and eighty feet broad, which formed 
a deep ditch on this side. The western gate was blown in, the 
blast carrying before it a high pile of sand -bags heaped against 
the inside to strengthen the bars. While this work was going 
on, seven boats carrying artillerymen entered the canal to proceed 
up to the gate ; but when nearly opposite they were repulsed 
by a severe fire from the walls, and the men compelled to aban- 
don the three leading boats and take refuge in the houses along 
the banks ; the others halted under cover of some houses until 
their comrades rejoined them, when all returned to the ships. 
Two hundred marines now landed, and with three hundred 
sepoys soon recovered the boats and carried back the wounded 
men. The party then planted their ladders in the face of a 



190 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

spirited fire from the walls, and succeeded in carrying them 
against all opposition. 

All resistance at the three gateways having been overcome, it 
was supposed that the city was nearly subdued. Sir Hugh con- 
sequently ordered a halt for his men on account of the heat, and 
despatched a small force to proceed along the western ramparts 
to occupy the southern gate. This squad had proceeded about 
half a mile when it met a body of eight hundred or one thou- 
sand Tartars regularly drawn up in an open space. They fired 
with steadiness and regularity, but their bravery was of no 
avail, for the party, giving them one volley, charged down the 
bank and scattered them immediately, though not without some 
resistance. The dispersed Tartars, however, kept up a scatter- 
ing fire along the streets and from the houses, which served 
chiefly to irritate their enemies and increase their own loss. 

The heat of the day having passed, the commander-in-chief, 
guided by Mr. Gutzlaff and some Chinese, marched with two 
regiments into the southern quarter of the city. The scenes of 
desolation and woe which he met seem to have sickened the 
gray-haired warrior, for he says in his despatches, " finding dead 
bodies of Tartars in every house we entered, principally women 
and children, thrown into wells or otherwise murdered by their 
own people, I was glad to withdraw the troops from this frightful 
scene of destruction, and place them in the northern quarter." 
It was indeed a terrific scene. Captain Loch, who accompanied 
Sir Hugh, says they went to a large building thought to be the 
prefect's house, which was forced open and found entirely 
deserted, though completely furnished and of great extent; 
" we set fire to it and marched on." What the object or advan- 
tage of this barbarous act was he does not say. Leaving the 
general, he turned down a street and burst open the door of a 
large mansion ; the objects which met his view were shocking. 

After we had forced our way over piles of furniture placed to barricade 
the door, we entered an open court strewed with rich stuffs and covered with 
clotted blood; and upon the steps leading to the hall of ancestors there were 
two bodies of youthful Tartars, cold and stiff, who seemed to be brothers. 
Having gained the threshold of their abode, they had died where they had 
fallen from loss of blood. Stepping over these bodies we entered the hall, and 



TRAGIC SCENES IN THE CITY. 191 

met face to face three women seated, a mother and two daughters, and at their 
feet, lay two bodies of elderly men, with their throats cut from ear to ear, their 
senseless heads resting upon the feet of their relations. To the right were two 
young girls, beautiful and delicate, crouching over and endeavoring to conceal 
a living soldier. In the heat of action, when the blood is up and the struggle 
is for life between man and man, the anguish of the wounded and the sight of 
misery and pain is unheeded ; humanity is partially obscured by danger ; but 
when excitement subsides with victory, a heart would be hardly human that 
could feel unaifected by the retrospection. And the hardest heart of the old- 
est man who ever lived a life of rapine and slaughter could not have gazed on 
this scene of woe unmoved. I stopped, horror-stricken at what I saw. The 
expression of cold, unutterable despair depicted on the mother's face changed 
to the violent workings of scorn and hate, which at last burst forth in a par- 
oxysm of invective, afterward in floods of tears, which apparently, if anything 
could, relieved her. She came close to me and seized me by the arm, and 
with clenched teeth and deadly frown pointed to the bodies, to her daughters, 
to her yet splendid house, and to herself ; then stepped back a pace, and with 
firmly closed hands and in a husky voice, I could see by her gestures, spoke of 
her misery, her hate, and, I doubt not, her revenge. I attempted by signs to 
explain, offered her my services, but was spurned. I endeavored to make her 
comprehend that, however great her present misery, it might be in her unpro- 
tected state a hundredfold increased ; that if she would place herself under 
my guidance, I would pass her through the city gates in safety into the open 
country ; but the poor woman would not listen to me, and the whole family 
was by this time in loud lamentation. All that remained for me to do was to 
prevent the soldiers bayoneting the man, who, since our entrance, had at- 
tempted to escape. 1 

The destruction of life was appalling. Some of the Manchus 
shut the doors of their houses, while through the crevices per- 
sons could be seen deliberately cutting the throats of their 
women, and destroying their children by throwing them into 
wells. In one house a man was shot while sawing his wife's 
throat as he held her over a well into which he had already 
thrown his children ; her wound was sewed up and the lives of 
the children saved. In another house no less than fourteen 
dead bodies, principally women, were discovered ; while such 
was their terror and hatred of the invaders, that every Man elm 
preferred resistance, death, suicide, or flight, to surrender. Out 
of a Manchu population of four thousand, it was estimated that 
not more than five hundred survived, the greater part having 
perished by their own hands. 

1 Capt. G. G. Loch, Narrative of Events in China, p. 109. 



192 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

The public offices were ransacked and all arms and stores 
destroyed ; only $60,000 in sycee were found in the treasury. 
The populace began to pillage, and in one instance, fearing a 
stop might be put to their rapacity, they set fire to the build- 
ings at each end of a street in order to plunder a pawnbroker's 
shop without interference. The streets and lanes were strewed 
with silken, fur, and other rich dresses which the robbers had 
thrown away when they saw something more valuable, and the 
sepoys and camp-followers took what they could find. Parties 
were accordingly stationed at the gates to take everything 
from the natives as they went out, or which they threw over the 
walls, and in this way the thieves were in their turn stripped. 
Within twenty-four hours after the troops landed, the city and 
suburbs of Chinkiang were a mass of ruin and destruction; 
part of the eastern wall was subsequently blown in and all the 
gates dismantled to prevent any treachery. The total loss of 
the English was thirty-seven killed and one hundred and thirty- 
one wounded. 

A curious contrast to the terrible scenes going on at Chin- 
kiang was seen at Iching hien, on the northern side of the river. 
Four days before, the approach of the steamer Nemesis had 
caused no little consternation, and in the evening a Chinese 
gentleman came off to her with a few presents to learn if there 
was any intention of attacking the town. He was told that if he 
would send supplies of meat and provisions no harm would be 
done, and all he brought should be paid for. In the morning 
provisions were furnished, and he remained on board to see the 
steamer chase and bring junks to ; being much amazed at these 
novel operations, which gave him a new idea of the energy of 
the invaders. In the evening commands were given him to 
bring provisions in larger quantities, and three boats went up to 
the town to procure them. The people showed no hostility, 
and through his assistance the English opened a market in the 
courtyard of a temple, at which supplies were purchased, put 
aboard small junks, and conveyed to the fleet. On the 21st the 
same person came, according to agreement, to accompany a large 
party of English from the ships to his house, where he had 
prepared an entertainment for them. Through the medium of 



RECEPTION OF THE ENGLISH AT ICHING. 193 

a Chinese boy communication was easily carried on, and the 
alarms of the townspeople quieted; a proclamation was also 
issued stating that every peaceable person would be unharmed. 
This gentleman had invited a large company of his relatives and 
friends, and served up a collation for his guests ; all this time 
the firing was heard from Chinkiang, where the countrymen of 
those so agreeably occupied were engaged in hostile encounter. 
On returning to their boats an additional mark of respect was 
shown by placing a well-dressed man each side of every officer 
to fan him as he walked. At the market-temple another enter- 
tainment was also served up. No injury was done by either 
side, and the forbearance of the English was not without good 
effect. Such queer contrasts as this have frequently character- 
ized the contests between the Chinese and British. 

Some of the large ships were towed up to Nanking, and the 
whole fleet reached it August 9th, at which time preparation 
had been made for the assault ; but desirous of avoiding a repe- 
tition of the sad scenes of Chinkiang, the British leaders had 
also sent a communication to E"iu Kien, offering to ransom the 
city for $3,000,000. 

This celebrated city lies about three miles south of the river, 
but the north-east corner of an outer wall reaches within seven 
hundred paces of the water ; the western face runs along the 
base of wooded hills for part of its distance, and is then con- 
tinued through flat grounds around the southern side, both being 
defended by a deep ditch. The suburbs are on this low ground, 
where Sir Hugh Gough intended to bombard the place and 
make an entrance on the eastern side, while diversions at other 
points perplexed the garrison. His force consisted of only four 
thousand five hundred effective men ; there were, as nearly as 
could be learned, six thousand Manchu and nine thousand Chi- 
nese troops within the city. On the 11th Lord Saltoun's brigade 
landed at a village from whence a paved road led to one of the 
eastern gates, and other detachments were stationed in the 
neighborhood. Everything was in readiness for the assault by 
daylight of August 15th, and the governor-general was told 
that it would assuredly be made unless the commissioners pro- 
duced their authority for treating. 



194 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

In the interval between the downfall of Chinkiang and in- 
vestment of Nanking, several communications were received 
from the Chinese officers, and one from Kiying, couched in 
conciliatory language, and evincing a desire for peace. Sir 
Henry Pottinger replied in the same strain, deploring the war 
and calamities caused by its continuance, but stating that he 
could have no interview with any individual, however exalted, 
who was not properly commissioned to treat for peace. It is 
probable that the Emperor did not receive any suggestion from 
his ministers in regard to making peace until after the fall of 
Chinkiang, and it was a matter of some importance, therefore, 
for flipu and his colleague to delay the attack on Nanking until 
an answer could be received from the capital. The usual doubts 
in the minds of the English as to their sincerity led them to 
look upon the whole as a scheme to perfect the defences, and 
gain time for the people to retire ; consequently the prepara- 
tions for taking the city went on, in order to deepen the con- 
viction that if one party was practising any deception, the other 
certainly was in earnest. 

On the night of the 14th, scarcely three hours before the 
artillery was to open, llipu, Kiying, and Niu Kien addressed a 
joint letter to Sir Henry Pottinger requesting an interview in 
the morning, when they would produce their credentials and 
arrange for further proceedings. This request was granted with 
some reluctance, for the day before the jpucliing sz? and Tartar 
commandant had behaved very unsatisfactorily, refusing to ex- 
hibit the credentials or discuss the terms of peace or ransom. 
The distress ensuent upon the blockade was becoming greater 
and greater ; more than seven hundred vessels coming from the 
south had been stopped at Chinkiang, and a large fleet lay in 
the northern branch of the canal, so that some possibility 
existed of the whole province falling into anarchy if the pres- 
sure were not removed. The authorities of the city of Yang- 
chau, on the canal, had already sent half a million dollars as 
the ransom of that place, while Niu Kien would only offer a 
third of a million to ransom the capital. 

The Emperor's authority to treat with the English was, how- 
ever, exhibited at this meeting, and in return Sir Henry's was 



ARRANGEMENTS FOR CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES. 195 

fully explained to them. The delegates on the part of the 
commissioners were Hwang 2sgan-tung, secretary to Kiying, 
and Chin, the Manchu commandant, while Major Malcom, 
secretary of legation, and Mr. J. R. Morrison acted on the part 
of the plenipotentiary. Captain Loch, who was present, hu- 
morously describes the solemn manner in which the Emperor's 
commission was brought out from the box in which it was 'de- 
posited, and the dismay of the lower attendants at seeing the 
foreigners irreverently handle it and examine its authenticity 
with so little awe. The skeleton of the treaty was immediately 
drafted for Hwang to take to his superiors. General Chin 
laughingly remarked that though the conditions were hard, 
they were no more so than the Chinese would have demanded 
if they had been the victors. The bearing of these officers 
was courteous, and Hwang especially found favor with all who 
were thrown into his company. 

The utmost care being requisite in drawing up the articles, 
most of the work falling upon Mr. Morrison, it was not till late 
at night on the 17th that the final draft was sent to the 
Chinese. The plenipotentiary, on the 18th, desired the general 
and admiral to suspend hostilities, at which time arrangements 
were also made for an interview the next day between the rep- 
resentatives on both sides. The English officers meantime ex- 
plored the vicinity of the city, and the demand for provisions 
to supply the force caused a brisk trade highly beneficial to the 
Chinese, and well calculated to please them. 

On the 19th Kiying, llipu, and Xiu Kien, accompanied by a 
large suite, paid their first visit to the English. The steamer 
Medusa brought them alongside the Cornwallis, and Sir Henry 
Pottinger, supported by the admiral and general, received them 
on the quarter-deck. The ship was decked with flags, and the 
crowd of gayly dressed officers in blue and scarlet contrasted 
well with the bright crapes and robes of the Chinese. This 
visit was one of ceremony, and after partaking of refreshments 
and examining the ship the commissioners retired, expressing 
their gratification at what they saw. They conducted them- 
selves with decorum in their novel position, and Kiying and 
llipu, though both brought up in the full persuasion of the 



196 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

supremacy of their sovereign over the rulers of all other nations, 
and particularly over the English, manifested no ill-concealed 
chagrin. They had previously sent up a report of the progress 
of the expedition after the capture of Chinkiang, requesting 
in it that the demands of the invaders might be conceded ; the 
inefficiency of their troops is acknowledged, and a candid state- 
ment of the impossibility of effectual resistance laid before his 
Majesty, with cogent reasons for acceding to the demands of the 
English as the wisest course of procedure. The further dis- 
asters which will ensue if the war is not brought to a close 
are hinted at, and the concession of the points at issue consid- 
ered in a manner least humbling to imperial vanity. The sum 
of $21,000,000 to be paid is regarded by them as a present 
to the soldiers and sailors before sending them home ; 
partly as the liquidation of just debts due from the hong mer- 
chants, whose insolvency made them chargeable to the govern- 
ment, and partly as indemnification for the opium. Trade at 
the five ports was to be allowed, because four of them had al- 
ready been seized, and this was the only way to induce the 
invaders to withdraw, while Hongkong could be ceded inasmuch 
as they had already built houses there. The memorial is a 
curious effort to render the bitter pill somewhat palatable to 
themselves and their master. 

The English plenipotentiary, accompanied by a large concourse 
of officers, returned the visit on shore in a few days, and were 
met at the entrance of a temple by the commissioners, who led 
them through a guard of newly uniformed and unarmed soldiers 
into the building, the bands of both nations striking up their 
music at the same time. This visit continued the good under- 
standing which prevailed ; the room had been carpeted and or- 
namented with lanterns and scrolls for the occasion, while the 
adj acent grounds accommodated a crowd of natives. On the 26th 
Sir Henry Pottinger and his suite, consisting of his secretary, 
Major Mai com, Messrs. Morrison, Thorn, and Gutzlaff, the three 
interpreters, and three other gentlemen, proceeded about four 
miles to the landing-place on the canal, where they were met by 
a brigadier and two colonels ; the banks of the canal were lined 
with troops. The party then took their horses, and, preceded 



ARTICLES OF THE TREATY OF NANKING. 197 

by a mounted escort, were received at the city gate by the sec- 
retaries of llipu ; the procession advanced to the place of meet- 
ing, guarded by a detachment of Manchu cavalry, whose shaggy 
ponies and flowing dresses presented a singular contrast to the 
envoy's escort and their beautiful Arabs. He himself was con- 
ducted through the outer gate, up the court and through the 
second gateway, ascending the steps into the third entrance, 
where he dismounted and entered the building with the com- 
missioners and governor-general. The room had been elegantly 
fitted up, and a crowd of official attendants dressed in their cere- 
monial robes stood around. Sir Henry occupied the chief seat 
between Kiying and llipu, their respective attendants being 
seated in proper order, with small tables between every two 
persons, while dinner was served up in usual Chinese style. 

These formalities being over, the thirteen articles of this most 
important treaty were discussed : 

I. — Lasting peace between the two nations. 

II. — The ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuhchau, Ningpo, and 
Shanghai to be opened to British trade and residence, and trade 
conducted according to a well-understood tariff. 

III. — " It being obviously necessary and desirable that British 
subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and 
refit their ships when required," the island of Hongkong to be 
ceded to her Majesty. 

IY. — Six millions of dollars to be paid as the value of the 
opium which was delivered up " as a ransom for the lives of 
H. B. M. Superintendent and subjects," in March, 1839. 

Y. — Three millions of dollars to be paid for the debts due to 
British merchants. 

YI. — Twelve millions to be paid for the expenses incurred in 
the expedition sent out " to obtain redress for the violent and 
unjust proceedings of the Chinese high authorities." 

YIL— The entire amount of $21,000,000 to be paid before 
December 31, 1845. 

YIIL — All prisoners of war to be immediately released by 
the Chinese. 

IX. — The Emperor to grant full and entire amnesty to those 
of his subjects who had aided the British. 



198 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

X. —A regular and fair tariff of export and import custom! 
and other dues to be established at the open ports, and a transit 
duty to be levied in addition which will give goods a free con- 
veyance to all places in China. 

XI. — Official correspondence to be hereafter conducted on 
terms of equality according to the standing of the parties. 

XII. — Conditions for restoring the places held by British 
troops to be according to the payments of money. 

XIII. — Time of exchanging ratifications and carrying the 
treaty into effect. 

The official English and Chinese texts of this compact and a 
literal translation of the Chinese text are given in the Chinese 
Repository, Yols. XIII. and XIV.; in that serial is also to be 
found a full account of the struggle which was thus brought to 
a close. Looked at in any point of view, political, commercial, 
moral, or intellectual, it will always be considered as one of the 
turning points in the history of mankind, involving the welfare 
of all nations in its wide-reaching consequences. 

When matters connected with the treaty had been arranged, 
Sir Henry proposed to say a few words upon " the great cause 
that produced the disturbances which led to the war, viz., the 
trade in opium." But upon hearing this (Captain Loch says) 
they unanimously declined entering upon the subject, until they 
were assured that he had introduced it merely as a topic for 
private conversation. 

They then evinced much interest, and eagerly requested to know why wte 
would not act fairly toward them hy prohibiting the growth of the poppy in 
our dominions, and thus effectually stop a traffic so pernicious to the human 
race. This, he said, in consistency with our constitutional laws could not he 
done ; and he added that even if England chose to exercise so arbitrary a 
power over her tillers of the soil, it would not check the evil, so far as the 
Chinese were concerned, while the cancer remained uneradicated among them- 
selves, but that it would merely throw the market into other hands. It, in 
tact, he said, rests entirely with yourselves. If your people are virtuous, they 
will desist from the evil practice ; and if your officers are incorruptible and 
obey your orders, no opium can enter your country. The discouragement of 
the growth of the poppy in our territories rests principally with you, for nearly, 
the entire produce cultivated in India travels east to China ; if, however, the 
habit has become a confirmed vice, and you feel that your power is at present 
inadequate to stay its indulgence, you may rest assured your people will pro- 



DISCUSSION OF THE OPIUM QUESTION. 199 

cure the drug in spite of every enactment. Would it not, therefore, be better at 
once to legalize its importation, and by thus securing the co-operation of the 
rich and of your authorities, from whom it would thus be no longer debarred, 
thereby greatly limit the facilities which now exist for smuggling ? They 
owned the plausibility of the argument, but expressed themselves persuaded 
that their imperial master would never listen to a word upon the subject. 

To convince them that what he said was not introduced from any sinister 
wish to gain an end more advantageous for ourselves, he drew a rapid sketch 
of England's rise and progress from a barbarous state to a degree of wealth and 
civilization unparalleled in the history of the world ; which rapid rise was 
principally attributable to benign and liberal laws, aided by commerce, which 
conferred power and consequence. He then casually mentioned instances of 
governments having failed to attain their ends by endeavoring to exclude any 
particular objects of popular desire ; tobacco was one of those he alluded to, 
and now that it was legalized, not only did it produce a large revenue to the 
crown, but it was more moderately indulged in in Britain than elsewhere. ] 

To the well-wisher of his fellow-men this narrative suggests 
many melancholy reflections. On the one hand were four or 
five high Chinese officers, who, although pagans and unacquainted 
with the principles of true virtue, had evidently sympathized with 
and upheld their sovereign in his fruitless, misdirected endeavors 
to save his people from a vicious habit. " Why will you not 
act fairly toward us by prohibiting the growth of the poppy ? " 
is their anxious inquiry ; for they knew that there was no moral 
principle among themselves strong enough to resist the opium 
pipe. " Your people must become virtuous and your officers 
incorruptible, and then you can stop the opium coming into your 
borders," is the reply ; precisely the words that the callous 
rum seller gives the broken-hearted wife of the besotted drunk- 
ard when she beseeches him not to sell liquor to her enslaved 
husband. " Other people will bring it to you if we should stop 
the cultivation of the poppy ; if England chose to exercise so 
arbitrary a power over her tillers of the soil, it would not check 
the evil," adds the envoy ; " you cannot do better than legalize 
it." Although nations are somewhat different from individuals 
in respect to their power of resisting and suppressing a vice. 

1 Loch's Ecents in China, p. 173, London, 1843. This same point is slightly 
referred to by Lieutenant Ouchterlony, on page 448 of his Chinese War, where 
lie states that Sir Henry had prepared a paper for the information of the Chi- 
nese officials, proposing to them to permit the traffic in opium to be by barter. 



200 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

and Sir Henry did right to speak of the legal difficulty in the 
way of restraining labor, yet how heartless was the excuse," if we 
do not bring it to you others will." No suggestion was made 
to them as to the most judicious mode of restraining what they 
were told they could not prohibit ; no hint of the farming 
system, which would have held out to them a medium path be- 
tween absolute freedom and prohibition, and probably been 
seriously considered by the court ; no frank explanation as to 
the real position the English government itself held in respect 
to the forced growth of this pernicious article in its Indian ter- 
ritories. How much nobler would that government have stood 
in the eyes of mankind if its head and ministers had instructed 
their plenipotentiary, that when their other demands were all 
paid and conceded no indemnity should have been asked for 
smuggled opium entirely destroyed by those who had seized it 
within their borders under threats of worse consequences. That 
government and ministry which had paid a hundred millions for 
the emancipation of slaves could surely afford to release a pagan 
nation from such an imposed obligation, instead of sending their 
armies to exact a few millions which the revenue of one year, 
derived from this very article alone, would amply discharge to 
their own subjects. For this pitiful sum must the great moral 
lesson to the Emperor of China and his subjects, which could 
have been taught them at this time, be lost. 

Sir Henry inquired if an envoy would be received at Peking, 
should one be sent from England, which Kiying assured him 
would no doubt be a gratification to his master, though what 
ideas the latter connected with such a suggestion can only be 
inferred. The conference lasted three or four hours* and when 
the procession returned to the barges, through an immense 
crowd of people, nothing was heard from them to indicate dis- 
like or dread ; all other thoughts were merged in overpowering 
curiosity. It was remarkable that this was the anniversary of 
the day when English subjects, among whom were the three 
interpreters here present, left Macao in 1839, by order of Lin ; 
on August 26, 1840, the plenipotentiaries entered the Pei ho to 
seek an interview with Kishen ; that day, the next year, Amoy 
and its extensive batteries fell ; and now the three years' game 



THE TREATY SIGNED AND RATIFIED. 201 

is won and China is obliged to bend, her magnates come down 
from their eminences, and her wall of supremacy, isolation, and 
conceit is shattered beyond the possibility of restoration. Her 
rulers apparently submitted with good grace to the hard lesson, 
which seemed to be the only effectual means of compelling 
them to abandon their ridiculous pretensions ; though it cannot 
be too often repeated that the effect of kindness, honorable 
dealing, and peaceful missions had not been fairly tried. 

Arrangements were made on the 29th to sign the treaty on 
board the Cornwallis. After it was signed all sat down to 
table, and the admiral, as the host in his flagship, gave the 
healths of their Majesties, the Queen of England and the Em- 
peror of China, which was announced to the fleet and army by 
a salute of twenty-one guns and hoisting the Union Jack and a 
yellow flag at the main and mizzen. The treaty was forwarded 
to Peking that evening. The embargo on the rivers and ports 
was at once taken off, the troops re-embarked, and preparations 
made to return to Wusung. The six millions were paid with- 
out much delay, and on September 15th the Emperor's ratifica- 
tion was received. The secretary of legation, Major Malcom, 
immediately left to obtain the Queen's ratification, going by 
steam the entire distance (except eighty miles in Egypt) from 
Nanking to London — an extraordinary feat in those days. 

The imperial assent was also published in a rescript addressed 
to Kiying, in reply to his account of the settlement of affairs, in 
which he gives directions for disbanding the troops, rebuilding 
such forts as had been destroyed, and cultivating peace as well 
as providing for the fulfilment of the articles. It is, on the 
whole, a dignified approval of the treaty, and breathes nothing 
of a spirit of revenge or intention to prepare for future resist- 
ance. 

The fleet of ships and transports returned down the river and 
reassembled at Tinghai, at the end of October, not a vessel 
having been lost. Even before leaving Nanking, and in the pas- 
sage down the river, the troops and sailors, especially the In- 
dian regiments, were reduced by cholera, fever, and other dis- 
eases, some of the transports being nearly disabled ; the deaths 
amounted to more than a thousand before reaching Hongkong. 



202 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

On arriving at Amoy the plenipotentiary was highly incensed 
on hearing of the melancholy fate of the captive crews of the 
Nerbudda and Ann, wrecked on Formosa. The first, a transport, 
contained two hundred and seventy-four souls, and when she 
went ashore all the Europeans abandoned two hundred and 
forty Hindus to their fate, most of whom fell into the hands of 
the Chinese. The Ann was an opium vessel, and her crew of 
fifty-seven souls were taken prisoners and carried to Taiwan fu. 
The prisoners were divided into small parties and had little 
communication with each other during their captivity, which 
was aggravated by want of food and clothing, filthy lodgings, 
and other hardships of a Chinese jail, so that many of the In- 
dians died. The survivors, on August 13th, with the exception 
of ten persons, were carried out to a plain near the city, one of 
whom, Mr. Newman, a seacunnie on board the Ann and the 
last in the procession, gave the following account : 

On being taken out of his sedan, to have his hands shackled behind his back, 
he saw two of the prisoners with their irons off and refusing to have them 
put on. They had both been drinking and were making a great noise, crying 
out to him that they were all to have their heads cut off. He advised them to 
submit quietly, but they still refusing, he first wrenched off his own and then 
put them into theirs, to the great pleasure of the soldiers, but when the sol- 
diers wished to replace his he declined. As they were on the point of secur- 
ing him he accidentally saw the chief oflicer seated close to him. Going before 
him he threw himself on his head and commenced singing a few Chinese 
words which he had frequently heard repeated in a temple. The oflicer was 
so pleased with this procedure that he turned round to the soldiers and ordered 
them to carry him back to the city. All the rest, one hundred and ninety- 
seven in number, were placed at small distances from each other on their 
knees, their feet in irons and hands manacled behind their backs, thus wait- 
ing for the executioners, who went round and with a kind of two-handed 
sword cut off their heads without being laid on a block. Afterward their 
bodies were thrown into one grave and their heads stuck up in cages on the 
seashore. 1 

A journal was kept by Mr. Gully to within three days of his 
death, and another by Captain Denham of the Ann, one of the 
prisoners saved to send to Peking. 2 Both contain full accounts 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. XII. , p. 248. 

,J Journals of Mr. Gully and Captain Denliam during a Captivity in China in 
1842. London : Chapman & Hall, 1844. 



MASSACRE OF SHIPWRECKED CREWS OX FORMOSA. 203 

of the treatment of the unhappy captives, and diminish the 
sympathy felt for the defeat of the government which allowed 
such slaughter. It was said to have been done by orders from 
court, grounded on a lying report sent up by the Manchu com- 
mandant, Tahungah. "When their sad fate was learned Sir 
Henry Pottinger published two proclamations in Chinese, in 
which the principal facts were detailed, so that all might know 
the truth of the matter; a demand made for the degradation and 
punishment of the lying officers who had superintended it, and 
the confiscation of their property for the use of the families of the 
sufferers, lliang, the governor-general, expressed his sincere re- 
gret to the English envoy at what had taken place, and exam- 
ined into the facts himself, which led to the degradation and 
banishment of the commandant and intendant. While the pris- 
oners were still at Taiwan fu, H. M. S. Serpent was sent over 
from Amoy to reclaim them, by which expedition the truth of 
the barbarous execution was first learned ; this vessel afterward 
went there to receive the ship wrecked crew of the ilerculaneum 
transport. 

The citizens of Amoy, Xingpo, and Shanghai hailed the ces- 
sation of the war and the opening of their ports to foreign 
trade ; but not so at Canton. The discharged volunteers still 
remained about the city, notwithstanding orders to return home 
and resume their usual employments, most of whom probably 
had neither. Scheming demagogues took advantage of a rumor 
that the English army intended to form a settlement opposite 
the city, and issued a paper in the name of the gentry, calling 
upon all to combine and resist the aggression. The enthusiasm 
it caused was worked up to a higher pitch by an inflammatorv 
manif esto, in which desperate measures were plainly intimated : 
but the district magistrates took no steps against them. An 
invitation was circulated for the citizens and gentlemen from 
other provinces to meet at the public assembly hall to consult 
upon public affairs. A counter but less spirited manifesto wms 
pasted up in the hall, which had the effect of inducing about 
half the people to disperse. The writers of this paper dissuaded 
their countrymen from hasty measures, by telling them that no 



204 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

land could be taken or dwellings occupied without permission 
from the provincial authorities, and urged upon them to live at 
peace with the English, in accordance with the injunctions of 
their wise sovereign. 

A brawl occurred in Hog Lane on December 6th, between 
some hucksters and lascars, who were pursued into the Square, 
where the mob rapidly increased, and about two o'clock began 
pulling down a brick wall around the Company's garden and 
forcing open one of the factories, which was speedily pillaged, 
the inmates escaping through the back doors. The British flag- 
staff was fired by a party which kept guard around it, and the 
flames communicating to the verandah, other parts soon caught, 
and by midnight the three hongs east of Hog Lane were burn- 
ing furiously. The ringleaders, satisfied with firing the British 
consulate, endeavored to prevent thieves carrying away the 
plunder ; but they were forced to escape about midnight. These 
wretches soon began to quarrel among themselves for the dol- 
lars found in the ruins, and it was not till noon that the police 
and soldiers ventured to attack the knotted groups of struggling 
desperadoes and arrest the most conspicuous, and with the aid 
of boats' crews from the shipping recapture some of the specie. 
Full compensation was subsequently made to the foreigners for 
the losses sustained, amounting to $67,397, and some of the 
ringleaders were executed. 

A large part of the officers in the army and navy engaged in 
the war received promotion or honorary titles. Sir Hugh was 
made a baronet, and, after more service in India, elevated to 
the peerage, with the title of Lord Gough, Baron of Chinkiang 
f u ; the plenipotentiary and the admiral obtained Grand Crosses 
of the Bath. The three interpreters, Messrs. Morrison, Thorn, 
and Gutzlaff, whose services had been arduous and important, 
received no distinctive reward from their government. The 
amount of prize money distributed among the soldiers and 
sailors was small. The losses of the English from shipwreck, 
sickness, and casualties during the war amounted to more than 
three thousand ; the mortality was greatest among the Indian 
regiments and the European recruits, especially after the oper« 
ations behind Canton and the capture of Chinkiang. 



SETTLEMENT OF COMMEECIAL REGULATIONS. 205 

While the English government rewarded its officers, the Em- 
peror expressed his displeasure at the conduct of the major 
part of his surviving generals, but distributed posthumous 
honors to those who had died at their posts. Hailing, with his 
wife and grandson, were honored with a fane, and his sons pro- 
moted. Kiying was appointed governor-general at Nanking. 
Though many civil and military officers were condemned to 
death, none actually lost their lives, except Yu Pu-yun, the 
governor of Chehkiang, who fled from Ningpo in October, 
1841. 

The settlement of the duties and regulations for carrying 
on foreign commerce immediately engaged the attention of the 
plenipotentiary. He called on the British merchants for infor- 
mation, but so utterly desultory was the manner in which the 
duties had been formerly levied, that they could give him little 
or no reliable information as to what was really done with the 
money. The whole matter was placed by both parties in the 
hands of Mr. Thom, who had been engaged in business at Can- 
ton, and Hwang Ngan-tung, secretary to Kiying. To settle these 
multifarious affairs and restore quiet, llipu was sent to Canton 
as commissioner. On his arrival, he set about allaying the pop- 
ular discontent at the treaty, and his edict 1 is a good instance of 
the mixture of flattery and instruction, coaxing and command- 
ing, which Chinese officers frequently adopt when they are not 
sure of gaining their end by power alone, and do not wish to irri- 
tate. In this instance it did much to remove misapprehension 
and allay excitement, but its author had not long been en- 
gaged in these arduous duties before he " made a vacancy," 
aged seventy-two, having been more than half his life engaged 
in high employments in his country's service ; his conduct and 
foresight in the last two years did credit to himself and elevated 
his nation. His associate, Kiying, took his place and exchanged 
the ratifications of the treaty of Nanking at Hongkong with Sir 
Henry Pottinger, ten months after it had been signed by the 
same persons. The island was then taken possession of on be- 
half of the Queen by proclamation, and the warrant read ap- 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 106. 



'206 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

pointing Sir Henry governor of the colony. Its influence on 
the well-being of China since that period has been less than 
was anticipated by those who looked to the higher welfare and 
progress of a British colony so near to it as likely to be an ex- 
ample for good. A free port has encouraged smuggling to a 
degree that constantly irritates and baffles the native authorities 
on the mainland, and leads to armed resistance to their efforts 
toward collecting lawf ul revenue, especially on opium ; while the 
influx of Chinese traders, attracted by its greater security, is grad- 
ually converting the island into a Chinese settlement protected 
by British rule. The peninsula of Kowlung, on the north side 
of the harbor, was added in 1860, to furnish ground for the 
commissary departments of the forces. The influence of a well- 
ordered Christian government exercising a beneficent rule over 
a less civilized race under its sway, is soon neutralized by licensing 
the opium farms and gambling saloons and lending its moral 
sanction to smuggling. 

The tariff and commercial regulations were published July 22d\ 
In this tariff, all emoluments and illegal exactions superimposed 
upon the imperial duties were prohibited, and a fixed duty 
put on each article, which seldom exceeded five per cent, on 
the cost ; all kinds of breadstuff s were free. Commercial deal- 
ings were placed on a well-understood basis, instead of the 
former loose way of conducting business; the monopoly of the 
hong merchants was ended, the fees exacted on ships were abol- 
ished, and a tonnage duty of five mace per ton substituted ; the 
charge for pilotage was reduced so much that the pilots were 
nearly stripped of all they received after pajdng the usual fees 
to the tidewaiters along the river. Disputes between English 
and Chinese were to be settled by the consuls, and in serious 
cases by a mixed court, when, upon conviction, each party was 
to punish its own criminals. 

The proclamation giving effect to these regulations was one 
of the most important documents ever issued by the Chinese 
government ; as an initiation of the new order of things, it 
was creditable to the people whose rulers were of themselves 
and could utter such words to them. After referring to the war 
and treaty of peace, Kiying goes on to 6ay, respecting the tariff, 



THE NEW TARIFF PROCLAIMED. 207 

that as soon as replies shall be received from the Board of Rev- 
enue, " it will then take effect with reference to the commerce 
with China of all countries, as well as of England. Hence- 
forth, then, the weapons of war shall forever be laid aside, 
and joy and profit shall be the perpetual lot of all ; neither slight 
nor few will be the advantages reaped by the merchants alike 
of China and of foreign countries. From this time forward, 
all must free themselves from prejudice and suspicions, pursuing 
each his proper avocation, and careful always to retain no in- 
imical feelings from the recollection of the hostilities that have 
before taken place. For such feelings and recollections can have 
no other effect than to hinder the growth of a good understand- 
ing between the two peoples/' It should be moreover added, as 
due praise to the imperial government, that none of the many 
hundreds who served the English on ship and shore against 
their country were afterward molested in any way for so doing. 
Many were apprehended, but the commissioner says he " has 
obtained from the good favor of his august sovereign, vast and 
boundless as that of heaven itself, the remission of their punish- 
ment for all past deeds ; . . . they need entertain no ap- 
prehension of being hereafter dragged forward, nor yield in 
consequence to any fears or suspicions." ' 

These new arrangements pleased the leading Chinese mer- 
chants better than they did the hoppo and others who had lined 
their pockets and fed their friends with illegal exactions. The 
never-failing sponge of the co-hong could no longer be sucked, 
but for a last squeeze the authorities called upon the merchants 
for five millions of dollars, which they refused to pay, and 
withdrew from business with so much determination and union 
that the hoppo and his friends were foiled ; they finally con- 
tributed among themselves about one million seven hundred 
thousand dollars, which was nearly or quite their last benevolence 
to their rulers. Howqua, the leading member of the body during 
thirty years, died about this time, aged seventy -five ; he was, 
altogether, the most remarkable native known to foreigners, and 
while he filled the difficult station of senior merchant, exhibited 

1 Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 443. 



208 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

great shrewdness and ability in managing the delicate and dif- 
ficult affairs constantly thrown upon him. He came from Amoy 
when a young man, and his property, probably over-estimated 
at four millions sterling, passed quietly into the hands of his 
children. 1 

The foreign community also suffered a great loss at this time 
in the death of John Eobert Morrison, at the age of twenty- 
nine, lie was born in China, and had identified himself with 
the best interests of her people and their advancement in 
knowledge and Christianity. At the age of twenty, on his 
father's decease, he was appointed Chinese secretary to the 
British superintendents, and filled that responsible situation 
with credit and efficiency during all the disputes with the pro- 
vincial authorities and commissioner Lin, and of the war, until 
peace was declared. His intimate acquaintance with the policy 
of the Chinese government and the habits of thought of its offi- 
cers eminently fitted him for successfully treating with them, 
and enlightening them upon the intentions and wishes of foreign 
powers ; while his unaffected kindness to all natives assured 
them of the sincerity of his professions. The successful conduct 
of the negotiations at Nanking depended very much upon him, 
and the manner in which he performed the many translations 
to and from Chinese, connected with that event, was such as to 
secure the confidence of the imperial commissioners, in their 
ignorance of all foreign languages, that they were fairly dealt 
with. 

He was eminently a Christian man, and whenever opportunity 
allowed, failed not to speak of the doctrines of the Bible to his 
native friends. The projected revision of the Chinese version 
of the Scriptures by the Protestant missionaries engaged his 
attention, and it was expected would receive his assistance. 
With his influence, his pen, his property, and his prayers, he 
contributed to the welfare of the people, and the confidence felt 
in him by natives who knew him was often strikingly exhibited 

1 Compare The Fan Kwae at Canton before Treaty Baps, by an Old Resident 
(Mr. W. C. Hunter), London, 1882 ; a little volume which, besides many per- 
sonal reminiscences of the characters mentioned in this narrative, furnishes an 
interesting picture of life in Canton a half century ago. 



DEATH OF JOHN R. MORRISON. 209 

at Canton during the commotions of 1841 and the negotiations 
of 1843. He died at Macao August 29th, a year after the treaty 
of Nanking was signed, and was buried by the side of his 
parents in the Protestant burying-ground. Sir Henry Pot- 
tinger announced his death as a " positive national calamity," 
and it was so received by the government at home. He also 
justly added that " Mr. Morrison was so well known to every 
one, and so beloved, respected, and esteemed by all who had the 
pleasure and happiness of his acquaintance or friendship, that 
to attempt to pass any panegyric upon his private character 
would be a mere waste of words ;" while his own sorrow was 
but a type of the universal feeling in which his memory and 
merit are embalmed. As a testimony of their sense of his 
worth, the foreign community, learning that he had died poor, 
leaving a maiden sister who had been dependent upon him, and 
that his official accounts were in some confusion, immediately 
came forward and contributed nearly fourteen thousand dollars 
to relieve his estate and relatives from all embarrassment. 

The negotiations were concluded by the English and Chinese 
plenipotentiaries signing a supplementary treaty on October 8th 
(the day was a lucky one in the Chinese calendar), at the Bogue. 
This treaty provided, among other things, for the admission of 
all foreigners to the five open ports on the same terms as Eng- 
lish subjects ; it was inserted at the request of Kiying, that all 
might appreciate the intentions of his government ; for neither 
he nor his master knew anything of that favorite phrase, " the 
most favored nation," and expected and wished to avoid all con- 
troversy by putting every ship and flag on the same footing. 

It might have been expected that the Chinese government 
would have now taken some action upon the opium trade, which 
was still going on unchecked and unlicensed. Opium schooners 
were passing in and out of Hongkong harbor, though the drug 
sold by the Indian government at Calcutta was not allowed by 
the colonial British government at Hongkong to be stored on 
shore. Yet no edicts were issued, few or no seizures made, no 
notice taken of it ; no proposition to repress, legalize, or manage 
it came from the imperial commissioner. The old laws de- 
nouncing its use, purchase, or sale under the penalty of death 



210 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

still remained on the statute book, but no one feared or cared 
for them. This conduct is fully explained bj the supposition 
that, having undergone so much, the Emperor and his ministers 
thought safety from future trouble with the British lay in en- 
during what was past curing ; they had already suffered greatly 
in attempting to suppress it, and another war might be caused 
by meddling with the dangerous subject, since too it was now 
guarded by well-armed British vessels. Public opinion was still 
too strong against it, or else consistency obliged the monarch to 
forbid legalization. 1 

Sir Henry Pottinger, hearing that persons were about send- 
ing opium to Canton under the pretense that unenumerated ar- 
ticles were admissible by the new tariff at a duty of five per 
cent., issued a proclamation in English and Chinese, to the in- 
tent that such proceedings were illegal. He also forbade British 
vessels going beyond lat. 32° !NV, and intimated to the Chinese 
that they might seize all persons and confiscate all vessels found 
above that line, or anywhere else on the coast besides the Hve 
ports; and, moreover, published an order in council which 
restricted, under penalty of $500 for each offence, all British 
vessels violating the stipulations of the treaty in this respect. 
All this was done chiefly to throw dust in their eyes, and put 
the onus of the contraband traffic on the Chinese government 
and the violation of law on those who came off to the smuggling 
vessels, and these proclamations and orders, like their edicts, 
were to be put " on record." This was shown when Captain 
Hope, of H.M.S. Thalia, for stopping two or three of the opium 
vessels proceeding above Shanghai, was recalled from his station 
and ordered to India, where he could not "interfere in such a man- 
ner with the undertakings of British subjects " — to quote Lord 
Palmerston's despatch to Captain Elliot. This effectually de- 
terred other British officers from meddling with it. 

Yet the commercial bearings of this trade were clearly seen 
in England, and a memorial to Sir Robert Peel, signed by two 
hundred and thirty-five merchants and manufacturers, was drawn 

1 Montgomery Martin, China ; Political, Commercial, and Social, Vol. II. , 
Chap. IV. (London, 1847) — a chapter containing some most suggestive reflec- 
tions on this subject by a member of her Majesty's government at Hongkong. 



EENEWAL OF THE OPIUM DISCUSSION. 211 

tip, in which they proved that the " commerce with China cannot 
be conducted on a permanently safe and satisfactory basis so long 
as the contraband trade in opium is permitted. Even if legalized, 
the trade would inevitably undermine the commerce of Great 
Britain with China, and prevent its being, as it otherwise might 
be, an advantageous market for our manufactures. It would op- 
erate for evil in a double way: first, by enervating and impoverish- 
ing the consumers of the drug, it would disable them from be- 
coming purchasers of our productions ; and second, as the Chinese 
would then be paid for their produce chiefly as now in opium, the 
quantity of that article imported by them having of late years 
exceeded in value the tea and silk we receive from them, our 
own manufactures would consequently be to a great extent pre- 
cluded." The memorial shows that between 1803-08 the an- 
nual demand for woollens alone was nearly $750,000 more than 
it was for all -products of British industry between 1834-39 ; while 
in that interval the opium trade had risen from three thousand to 
thirty thousand chests annually. Nothing in the annals of com- 
merce ever showed more conclusively how heartless a thing trade 
is when it comes in contact with morality or humanity, than 
the discussions respecting the opium traffic. These memorial- 
ists plead for their manufactures, but the East India Company 
would have been sorry to have had their market spoiled : what 
could Sir Robert Peel, or even "Wilberforce, if he had been 
premier, do against them in this matter? The question was 
which party of manufacturers should be patronized. But none 
of these "merchants and manufacturers of the highest standing 
and respectability " refer to the destruction of life, distress of 
families, waste of mind, body, and property, and the many other 
evils connected with the growth and use of opium, except as con- 
nected with the sale of their goods. One paper, in order 
to compound the matter, recommended the manufacture of 
morphine to tempt the Chinese, in order that, if they would 
smoke it, they might have a delicate preparation for fashion- 
able smokers. 

The conduct of the ministry in remunerating the merchants 
who had surrendered their property to Captain Elliot was appro- 
priate to the character of the trade. The $6,000,000, instead 



212 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

of being divided in China among those who were to receive it 
— as could have been done without expense — was carried to 
England to be coined, which, with the freight, reduced it con- 
siderably. Then by the manner of ascertaining the market 
value at the time it was given up, and the holders of the opium 
script got their pay, they received scarcely one-half of what was 
originally paid to the East India Company, either directly or 
indirectly, thereby reducing it nearly a million sterling. Fur- 
thermore, by the form of payment they lost nearly one-fifth 
even of the promised sum, or about one million two hundred 
thousand dollars. Then they lost four years' interest on their 
whole capital, or about four million dollars more. What the 
merchants lost, the government profited. The Company gained 
during these four years at least a million sterling by the in- 
creased price of the drug, while Sir Robert Peel also transferred 
that amount from the pockets of the merchants to the public 
treasury. It was an undignified and pitiful haggling with the 
merchants and owners of the opium, whom that ministry had 
encouraged for many years in their trade along the Chinese 
coast, and then forced to take what was doled out. 

Public opinion will ever characterize the contest thus brought 
to an end as an opium war, entered into and carried on to 
obtain indemnity for opium seized, and — setting aside the nice- 
ties of western international law, which the Chinese government 
knew nothing of — most justly seized. The British and Amer- 
ican merchants who voluntarily subscribed one thousand and 
thirty-seven chests to Commissioner Lin, acknowledged them- 
selves to be transgressors by this very act. Yet war seemed to 
be the only way to break down the intolerable assumptions of 
the court of Peking ; that a war would do it was quite plain 
to every one acquainted with the character of that court and the 
genius of the people, and the result has shown the expectation 
to have been well based. Members of Parliament expressed 
their gratification at being at last out of a bad business ; their 
desire, frequently uttered, that the light of the gospel and the 
blessings of Christian civilization might now be introduced 
among the millions of China, was a cheap peace-offering of good 
wishes, somewhat in the manner of the old Hebrews sacrificing 



TREATIES WITH OTHER POWERS. 213 

a kid when they had committed a trespass. The short but pithy 
digest of the whole war by Justin McCarthy, in Chapter X. of 
the History of Our Own Times, brings out its leading features 
in a fairly candid manner. 

The announcement of the treaty of Nanking caused consider- 
able sensation in Europe and America, chiefly in commercial 
circles. M. Auguste Moxhet, the Belgian consul at Singapore, 
was sent on to China to make such inquiries for transmission to 
his government as would direct it in its efforts to open a trade. 
The Netherlands government sent orders to the authorities at 
Batavia, who despatched M. Tonco Modderman for the same 
purpose. The king of Prussia appointed M. Grube to proceed 
to China to prosecute researches as to the prospect of finding 
a market for German manufactures. The Spanish ministry, 
through the authorities at Manila, designated Don Sinibaldo de 
Mas in this new sphere. The governor of Macao, M. Pinto, 
before returning home, was appointed commissioner on behalf 
of H. M. F. Majesty, to treat respecting the rights and privi- 
leges of Macao under the new order of things, and succeeded in 
obtaining some stipulations favorable to the trade of the place, 
but could not get the Chinese to cede it to Portugal. These 
gentlemen arrived in China during the latter part of 1843, and 
most of them had interviews or communication with Kiying be- 
fore he returned to court in December. 

The governments of the United States and France early ap- 
pointed ministers extraordinary to the court of Peking. Caleb 
Cushing, commissioner on behalf of the United States, brought 
a letter from the President to the Emperor, which is inserted 
in full as an instance of the singular mixture of patronizing and 
deprecatory address then deemed suitable for the Grand Khan 
by western nations : 

LETTER TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA FROM THE PRESIDENT OF 
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

I, John Tyler, President of the United States of America— which States 
are : Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, 
Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and 



214 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

Michigan — send you this letter of peace and friendship, signed by my own 
hand. 

I hope your health is good. China is a great Empire, extending over a great 
part of the world. The Chinese are numerous. You have millions and mil- 
lions of subjects. The twenty-six United States are as large as China, though 
our people are not so numerous. The rising sun looks upon the great moun- 
tains and great rivers of China. When he sets, he looks upon rivers and 
mountains equally large in the United States. Our territories extend from 
one great ocean to the other ; and on the west we are divided from your do- 
minions only by the sea. Leaving the mouth of one of our great rivers, and 
going constantly toward the setting sun, we sail to Japan and to the Yellow 
Sea. 

Now, my words are that the governments of two such great countries should 
be at peace. It is proper, and according to the will of heaven, that they should 
respect each other, and act wisely. I therefore send to your court Caleb Cush- 
ing, one of the wise and learned men of this country. On his first arrival in 
China, he will inquire for your health. He has strict orders to go to your 
great city of Peking, and there to deliver this letter. He will have with him 
secretaries and interpreters. 

The Chinese love to trade with our people, and to sell them tea and silk, for 
which our people pay silver, and sometimes other articles. But if the Chinese 
and the Americans will trade, there shall be rules, so that they shall not break 
your laws or our laws. Our minister, Caleb Cushing, is authorized to make a 
treaty to regulate trade. Let it be just. Let there be no unfair advantage on 
either side. Let the people trade not only at Canton, but also at Amoy, Ningpo, 
Shanghai, Fuhchau, and all such other places as may offer profitable ex- 
changes both to China and the United States, provided they do not break your 
laws nor our laws. We shall not take the part of evil-doers. We shall not 
uphold them that break your laws. Therefore, we doubt not that you will be 
pleased that our messenger of peace, with this letter in his hand, shall come 
to Peking, and there deliver it ; and that your great officers will, by your or- 
der, make a treaty with him to regulate affairs of trade — so that nothing may 
happen to disturb the peace between China and America. Let the treaty be 
signed by your own imperial hand. It shall be signed by mine, by the author- 
ity of our great council, the Senate. 

And so may your health be good, and may peace reign. 

Written at Washington, this twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-three. Your good friend. 

Mr. dishing arrived in China in the frigate Brandywine, 
Commodore Parker, February 24, 1844. The announcement 
of the general objects of his mission, and the directions he had 
to proceed to Peking, was made to Governor Ching, who in- 
stantly informed the court of his arrival ; and with a promp- 
titude indicative of the desire of the Emperor to give no cause 
of offence, Kiying was reappointed commissioner, with highei 



EMBASSY FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CHINA. 215 

powers than before. The frigate had brought out a flagstaff 
and vane for the consulate at Canton ; the vane was in the 
form of an arrow, and as it turned its barb to the four points of 
the compass, the superstitious people thought it conveyed de- 
structive influences around, transfixing all the benign operations 
of heaven and earth, and thereby causing disease and calamity 
among them. An unusual degree of sickness prevailed at this 
time in the city and its environs, which the geomancers and 
doctors declared would not cease until the deadly arrow was re- 
moved. The people accordingly waited on the consul, Mr. Forbes, 
to request the removal of the arrow, which he acceded to, and 
substituted a vane of another shape. The gentry issued a pla- 
card the next day, commending its removal, and requesting the 
people to harbor no ill-will toward the Americans as the cause 
of the sickness. 

Kiying having announced his appointment and powers to the 
people, proceeded to the Bogue to meet Sir Henry Pottinger, 
and be introduced to Governor Davis, from whence he went to 
Macao and took up his residence in the village of Wanghia, in 
the suburbs of that city. He had associated three assistants 
with himself, viz., Hwang Ngan-tung, Pwan Sz'-shing, one of 
the late hong merchants, and Chau Chang-ling, a prefect. H. 
E. Hon. Caleb dishing was sole commissioner and envoy ex- 
traordinary ; Fletcher Webster, Esq., was secretary ; Rev. E. 
C. Bridgman, D.D., and Eev. Peter Parker, M.D., were joint 
Chinese secretaries, and Dr. Bridgman, chaplain ; Messrs. J. H. 
O'Donnell, E. Mcintosh, S. Hernisz, T. R. West, and John R. 
Peters, Jr., were attached to the legation. 

Mr. Gushing had already prepared the general outline of the 
treaty, which greatly abridged the negotiations, and the few 
disputed or doubtful points in the draft having been modified 
and settled, it was signed at Wanghia on July 3, 1844, by the 
two plenipotentiaries, Commodore Parker, and a few other 
Americans, a large company of Chinese being present. Its ful- 
ness of details and clear exhibition of the rights conceded by 
the Chinese government to foreigners dwelling within its bor- 
ders, made it the leading authority in settling disputes among 
them until 1860. 



216 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Soon after Kiying left Canton the populace began to show 
signs of disturbance. A party of gentlemen were walking in 
the Company's garden, when the gate was burst open by a mob 
and they were obliged to escape by boats. On the next evening 
the mob again collected, with the intention of getting possession 
of the large garden, but were driven out of the passage without 
much opposition. Two or three Americans, in escorting one of 
their countrymen to his house, were attacked by missiles on 
their return ; whereupon one of them fired low to drive the 
people back, but unhappily killed a native, named Sii A-mun. 
The case was investigated by the district magistrate, and a 
report made by the governor to Kiying; but Ching took no 
pains to send a sufficient force to repress the populace. In a 
communication to the American consul he says, after ordering 
him to deliver up the murderer : " It has been ascertained that 
the man who was killed was from the district of Tsingyuen, 
having no relatives in Canton. But if he had been a citizen, it 
would have become at the moment an occasion for attack, for it 
would have been told to the populace, and they would have re- 
venged it by again setting fire to the factories and plundering 
their contents, or something of that sort. The people are highly 
irritated against the offender, and it is impossible but that they 
have constant debates among themselves until they are re- 
venged." 

A party of marines from the corvette St. Louis came up to 
Canton the next day, and quiet was restored. Kiying brought 
the case before Mr. Cushing, stating it to be his conviction that 
" the murderer ought to forfeit his life," and begging him to 
give orders for a speedy examination of the case. In his reply 
Mr. Cushing expressed his regret at what had occurred, his 
willingness to institute an inquiry, and added a few remarks 
upon the necessity of better protecting foreigners at Canton, 
in order to prevent the recurrence of such scenes, and embroil- 
ing the two countries. Kiying replied in a considerate manner, 
still upholding the authority of his government and laws : " It 
seems from this that, regarding our nations and their subjects, 
the people of our land may be peaceful, and the citizens of the 
United States may be peaceful, and yet, after their governments 



CASES OF RIOT AND HOMICIDE EST CANTON. 217 

have become amicable, that then their people may become inim- 
ical ; and albeit the authorities of the two governments may 
day after day deliberate upon friendship, it is all nothing but 
empty words. Thus, while we are deliberating and settling a 
treaty of peace, all at once the people of our two countries are 
at odds and taking lives." He also speaks of the overbearing 
and violent character of the people of Canton : 

Since the period when the English brought in soldiers, these ladrones have 
been banding together and forming societies ; and while some, taking advan- 
tage of their strength, have plundered and robbed, others have called upon 
the able-bodied and valiant to get their living. Therefore, employing troops, 
which is the endangering of the authorities and [peaceable] people, is the 
profit of these miscreants ; peace and good order which traders, both native and 
foreign, desire, is what these bad men do not at all wish. ... I have 
heard that usually the citizens of Canton have respected and liked the officers 
and people of the United States, as they were peaceable and reasonable ; that 
they would, even when there was a cause of difference, endeavor to settle it, 
which is very unlike the English. But unexpectedly, on the 16th instant, a 
cause for animosity was given in the shooting of Sii A-mun. I have heard differ- 
ent accounts of this affair ; I judge reasonably in thinking that the merchants of 
your country causelessly and rashly took life. But the populace are determined 
to seek a quarrel, and I very much fear lest they will avail of this to raise com- 
motion, perhaps under the pretence of avenging his death, but doubtless with 
other ideas too. 

The American minister referred in a subsequent communica- 
tion to the death of the boy Sherry, in May, 1841, when the 
boat's crew from the ship Morrison was captured. This affair 
had been already brought to the notice of the Chinese govern- 
ment by Commodore Kearny, and a sum of $7,800 paid for 
losses and damages sustained ; but the present was a fitting 
opportunity for reviving it, since it and the case of Sii A-mun 
furnished a mutual commentary upon the necessity of securing 
better protection for foreigners. Kiying made an investigation 
of the case, and reported the successive actions of his predecessor, 
Ki Kung ; so thoroughly indeed was his reply divested of all 
the rhodomontade usually seen in Chinese state papers, that one 
could hardly believe it was written by a governor- general of 
Canton. The exciting circumstances of the first casualty did 
indeed go far to extenuate it; though now both Kiying and his 
superiors could not but see that the time for demanding life fox 



218 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

life had passed away. The commissioner was, however, in a 
dilemma. He could only appease the populace by stating in his 
proclamations that he was making every effort to ascertain who 
was the murderer and bring him to justice, and they must leave 
the management of the case in the hands of the regular author- 
ities. On the other hand, the arguments of Mr. Gushing and 
the stipulations in the English treaty, both convinced him that 
foreign nations would not give up their treaty right of judging 
their own countrymen. He finally escaped the trouble by de- 
ferring the petitioners and relatives of the deceased awhile, and 
then appeasing them by a small donation. 

In conducting these negotiations, and settling this treaty "be- 
tween the youngest and oldest empires in the world," Mr. Crush- 
ing exhibited both ability and knowledge of his subject. In his 
instructions he was directed to deliver the President's letter to 
the Emperor in person, or to an officer of rank in his presence ; 
and, therefore, on his arrival he informed the governor that he 
had been sent to the imperial court, and being under the neces- 
sity of remaining a few weeks at Macao, he improved the first 
opportunity to inquire after the health of his Majesty. Whether 
he regarded the mere going to court as important cannot be in- 
ferred from his correspondence, but if so, he should have gone 
directly to the mouth of the Pei ho and waited there for a com- 
missioner to be sent to meet him. Yet the real advantages of 
such a proceeding at this time would have been trifling, and its 
risks and contingencies very serious ; as the Emperor was not 
disposed to forego that homage required of all who appeared 
before him, however willing he might be to grant commercial 
privileges, it was undesirable to excite discussions on this point. 
Moreover, the appointment of Kiying with such unusual powers 
indicated a favorable disposition toward the Americans. It was 
fortunate that the two plenipotentiaries were at hand when the 
riot and homicide occurred, while the discussion which grew out 
of those events was no small benefit to the local government. 
The secret of much of the power of the Emperor of China con- 
sists in the acknowledgment by his subjects of his sacred char- 
acter as the Son of Heaven ; and although that lofty assumption 
must come down before the advance of western civilization, and 



CONCLUSION OF THE FRENCH TREATY. 219 

will ere long crumble of itself, to have asked for an audience 
when this formality was known to be inadmissible would have 
irritated him, and put the foreign minister in an indefensible 
position. The subsequent discussions proved how deeply rooted 
in the Chinese mind was this attribute ; the peaceful settle- 
ment of the question in 1873 could not have been anticipated 
in 1844. 

The French ambassador, H. E. Th. de Lagrene, arrived in 
China August 14th. In addition to the two secretaries, MM. le 
Marquis de Ferriere le Yoyer and le Comte d'Harcourt, five 
other gentlemen were sent out to make investigations into the 
commerce, arts, and industrial resources of the Chinese. M. de 
Lagrene took possession of the lodgings prepared for him at 
Macao, in the same building which Mr. dishing had occupied. 
Kiying immediately made arrangements for opening the nego- 
tiations by sending his three associates to congratulate the 
French minister on his arrival ; he himself reached Macao Sep- 
tember 29th. The gratification of the Chinese statesmen at 
finding that the missions from the American and French gov- 
ernments were not sent, like the English expedition, to demand 
indemnity and the cession of an island, was great. Their arrival 
had been foreshadowed among the people of Canton, the num- 
ber of ships of war had been exaggerated, and the design of the 
ambassadors strangely misrepresented as including the seizure 
of an island. These reports could hardly fail to reach and have 
some effect upon the highest officers in the land. The time, 
therefore, was favorable, not merely to obtain the same political 
and commercial advantages which had been granted to England, 
but further to explain to the Chinese officers something of the 
relations their nation should enter into with the other powers of 
the earth. The first interviews between Kiying and M. de La- 
grene were held in October, and the treaty of Wanghia taken as 
the basis of agreement. The negotiations were amicably settled 
by the signing of the treaty at Whampoa on October 23d. 
This act may be said to have concluded the opening of China, 
so far as its government was prepared for the extension of this 
intercourse. 

The instalments due according to the treaty of Nanking were 



220 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

not jet all paid, but the Chinese had shown their desire to fulfil 
their engagements, and the $21,000,000 were received by the 
English within a short period of the specified time. This was 
a minor consideration, however, in comparison with the great 
advantages gained by England for herself and all Christendom 
over the seclusive and exclusive system of former days, which 
had now received such a shock that it could not only never 
recover from it, but was not likely even to maintain itself where 
the treaties had defined it. The intercourse begun by these 
treaties went on as fast as the two parties found it for their 
benefit. The war, though eminently unjust in its cause as an 
opium war — and even English officers and authors do not try to 
disguise that the seizure* of the opium was the real reason for an 
appeal to arms, though the imprisonment of Captain Elliot and 
other acts was the pretext — was still, so far as human sagacity 
can perceive, a wholesome infliction upon a government which 
haughtily refused all equal intercourse with other nations, or ex- 
planations regarding its conduct, and forbade its subjects having 
free dealings with their fellow-men. 

If in entering upon the conflict England had published to the 
world her declaration of the reasons for engaging in it, the 
merits of the case would have been better understood. If she 
had said at the outset that she commenced the struggle with the 
Emperor because he would not treat her subjects resorting to 
his shores by his permission with common humanity, allowing 
them no intercourse with his subjects, nor access to his officers; 
because he contemptuously discarded her ambassadors and con- 
sular agents, sent with friendly design ; because he made foolish 
regulations (which his own subjects did not observe) an occasion 
of offence against others when it suited him, and had despoiled 
them of their property by strange and arbitrary proceedings, 
weakening all confidence in his equity ; lastly, because he kept 
himself aloof from other sovereigns, and shut out his people 
from that intercourse with their fellow-men which was their 
privilege and right ; her character in this war would have ap- 
peared far better. But it is the prerogative of the Governor of 
nations to educe good out of evil, and make the wrath, the 
avarice, and the ambition of men to serve his purposes and ad- 



CONDITION OF CHINA AFTER THE WAR. 221 

vance his own designs, although their intentions may be far 
otherwise. 

The external and internal relations of the Chinese Empire at 
the close of the year 1844 were in a far better state than one 
would have supposed they could have become in so short a time 
after such a convulsion. The cities and provinces where the 
storm of war had beat most violently were reviving, the author- 
ity of the officers was becoming re-established, the bands of 
lawless desperadoes were gradually dispersing, and the people 
resuming their peaceful pursuits. Xo ill-will was manifested in 
Amoy on account of the losses its citizens had sustained, nor at 
Xingpo or Shanghai for their occupation by English troops. 
The English consuls at the five ports had all been received, and 
trade was commencing under favorable auspices. The opium 
trade — for this dark feature everywhere forces itself into the 
prospect — was also extending, and opium schooners plying up 
and down the coast, and anchoring on the outside limits of 
every port to deliver the drug. 

The citizens of Canton, however, maintained their hereditary 
ill-will toward foreigners, and proceeded to such lengths that 
the local government became powerless to carry the stipulation 
of the British treaty, to enter its city gates, into effect. Gov- 
ernor Davis proceeded to Canton in May, 1847, with several 
vessels of war, capturing all the guns at the Bogue in his pro- 
gress up the river, and compelled the authorities to grant a 
larger space for residences and warehouses on the south side of 
the Pearl River, to be occupied as soon as arrangements could 
be made. It was also agreed that the gates should be uncondi- 
tionally opened within two years, so that foreigners might have 
the same access to this city as to the other four ports. When 
the time came for this to be carried out, the Emperor ordered 
Governor-General Sii to mind the voice of the people and dis- 
regard this engagement, which had probably never received his 
sanction. A careful examination of the Chinese text of all the 
treaties showed that an explicit permission to enter the citadel 
(ching), or walled portion of the marts opened to foreign com- 
merce, was not given. In consequence of this vagueness the 
Hongkong authorities, acting under instructions from London, 



222 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

did not press the point, and the gates of Canton remained in- 
violate till January, 1858. x 



1 Chinese Repository, Vols. XVIII., pp. 216, 275; XV., p. 4G ff. Davis 
China during tlie War and since the Peace, 1852, Vol. II., Chaps. V. and VI. 
passim. Among other authorities on the war may be mentioned Lord Jocelyin 
Six Months with the Chinese Expedition, London, 1841 ; K. Stewart Mackenzie 
Narrative of the Second Campaign in China, London, 1842 ; Col. Arthur Cun 
ynghame, Recollections of Service in China, 1853 ; Lieut. John Ouchterlony, 
The Chinese War, 1844 ; TJie Last Tear in China to tlie Peace of Hanking, by 
a Field Officer, London and Philadelphia, 1843; Auguste Haussmann, La 
Chine, resume historique, etc., Paris, 1858 ; Ad. Barrot in the Revue des Deux 
Mondes for February 15, March 1, June 1, and July 1, 1842, 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TAI-PING REBELLION. 

The war, which was brought to an end by the treaty of Kan- 
king, left the imperial government astonished and crippled, 
but not paralyzed or dejected. It had, moreover, the effect of 
arousing it from the old notions of absolutism and security ; 
and though the actual heads of bureaus at Peking were unable, 
from their secluded position and imperfect education, to ascer- 
tain and appreciate the real nature of the contest, the maritime 
officials could see that its results were likely to be lasting and 
serious. A few thoughtful men among them, as llipu, Seu Ivi- 
yu, Kiying and his colleagues, understood better than their su- 
periors at the capital that the advent of the ' Western Ocean 
people ' at the five open ports introduced a permanent influence 
upon the Black-haired race. They could not, of course, estimate 
what this influence would become, but a sense of its power and 
vitality had the effect of preventing them from petty opposition 
in carrying out the treaty stipulations. With the major part of 
the officials, on the other hand, life-long prejudice, joined to 
utter ignorance as to the numbers, position, and resources of 
foreign nations, led them to withdraw from even such a meas- 
ure of intercourse with consular and diplomatic officials as they 
could easily have held. The tone of official society was opposed 
to having any personal relations with their foreign colleagues, 
and after the old Emperor Taukwang had passed off the stage 
in 1850, his son showed — even eight years after the peace — that 
promotion was incompatible with cultivating a closer acquaint- 
ance with them. 

It is not surprising that this reaction took on the form of 
doing as little as possible, and that its stringency was increased 



224 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

in reality by the device of making the governor-general at Can- 
ton the only channel of correspondence with foreign ministers. 
This magnate was surrounded in that city by subordinates 
whose training had been inimical to extending intercourse with 
foreigners, because they had reaped the advantages of the old 
system in their monopoly of the trade. The intendants at the 
other open ports were directed to refer difficult questions re- 
lating to foreigners to this high functionary, but as they were 
more disposed to let such disputes settle themselves, if possible, 
few cases were ever sent to him. The animus of the whole 
governing class gradually assumed a settled determination to 
keep aloof from those w T ho had humbled them in the eyes of 
their subjects, and yet give no handle to these potent outsiders 
to repeat their descent on the coast. It was a poor policy 
in every point of view, only serving to hasten the evils they 
dreaded. 

Sir John Davis was appointed governor of Hongkong in 1844. 
and during four years' service so soon after the war saw much 
of this proud and foolish spirit. His two volumes, published in 
1852 {China during the War and since the Peace), contain a 
digest of the official records and acts of the Chinese govern- 
ment which is highly instructive. It is remarkable that he 
should show so much surprise at the mendacity, ill-will, and 
weakness of the officers in these reports to their master, or at 
the Emperor's persistency in wreaking his wrath on those whose 
poltroonery had done him so much harm. A residence of nearly 
thirty years in the country should have developed, in his case, 
an intimate acquaintance with native ideas of honor and mercy, 
and shown him how little of either are practised in time of war. 
If he blames the Chinese leaders for their ignorance and silly 
mistakes in its conduct, one can readily see that they never had 
an opportunity to learn the truth about their enemies. Their 
struggle against the impossible was not altogether in vain, there- 
fore, if it prepared them for accepting the inevitable. Had Sir 
John manifested a little sympathy for their plight in such an 
unequal contest, and shown more humanity for their sufferings 
under the evils which afflicted them, his opinion of the best rem- 
edies would have carried much weight. As an instance of the 



SIR JOHN DAVIS AND KEYING. 225 

result of his own training in the East India Company's school, 
he remarks respecting the imperial edicts against opium, that 
they fell into disuse, and that the subject had never been re- 
vived since the war ; adding, " But at no time was the traffic 
deserving the full load of infamy with which many were dis- 
posed to heap it, for at most it only supplied the poison, which 
the Chinese were not obliged to take. The worst effect, perhaps, 
was the piracy it engendered, for this has told against the honest 
trade." * In his first interview with Kiying, in May, 1844, he 
proposed that the Chinese government should legalize the opium 
trade, for " such a wise and salutary measure would remove all 
chances of unpleasant occurrences between the two govern- 
ments ; it might provide an ample revenue for the Emperor, 
and check to the same extent the consumption of a commod- 
ity which was at present absolutely untaxed." 3 He, however, 
brought it more directly to his notice the next year in conse- 
quence of the revival of smuggling at Whampoa to as great a 
degree as in 1839, and the opium vessels all left the Reach. 

Kiying was entirely indisposed to move, or even aid, in this 
matter, which he knew would be distasteful to the Emperor, 
other than by a truly Chinese device — that the officials of both 
nations should let it go on by mutual connivance. Sir John 
naively remarks on this : " The only thing wanting was that the 
Emperor should publicly sanction what he had once publicly 
condemned. . . . The trade, however, was practically tol- 
erated, and to us this made a great difference. The Chinese 
government was not sufficiently honest to make a public avowal 
of this change in its system, but the position in which Great 
Britain stood became materially altered. China had distinctly 
declined a conventional arrangement for the remedy of the 
evil, and expressed a desire that we should not bring the exist- 
ing abuse to its notice." 3 With two such men in command, of 
course nothing was ever done by either side to restrain the evils 
growing out of this contraband and demoralizing trade, until 
another war and new treaties changed the national relations. 

1 China during the War, etc., Vol. I., p. 19. 
' 2 im., Vol. II., p. 44. 
3 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 203. 



226 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

At Canton the long-cherished dislike to foreigners was fo- 
mented by demagogues and idlers. These worked upon the 
fears of the people by telling them that their lands were to be 
taken to build warehouses upon ; and this rumor was so far be- 
lieved that it soon became unsafe for foreigners to venture far 
into the suburbs. In December, 1847, not long after the ar- 
rangement with Sir John Davis respecting an entrance into Can- 
ton city was made, six Englishmen were attacked by a mob at 
Hwang-chuh-ki while on a ramble, and all killed, some of them 
with refined cruelty. Kiying took immediate measures — ex- 
tremely creditable to his sense of what he owed to justice and 
maintenance of peace — to punish these villagers. A number of 
men whom their fellows indicated as leaders in the outrage 
were arrested ; the prisoners were tried at Canton by the regu- 
lar courts. Four were presently decapitated in the sight of a 
military deputation sent from Hongkong, and two others by 
orders from Peking. This well-timed justice secured the safety 
of foreigners peaceably going about the city and environs ; but 
it was credibly stated afterward that there were numerous pla- 
cards already posted in that region informing the people that 
foreigners would perhaps be coming thither to select sites for 
themselves. These unfortunate Englishmen, indeed, would per- 
haps have been allowed to return home, if they had been able 
to speak to the villagers and explain their object. 

This incident makes it proper to notice a common misappre- 
hension abroad in respect to the influence of the treaties which 
had been signed with China upon the people themselves. It 
was inferred that as soon as the three treaties with England, 
France, and America had been ratified, the great body of edu- 
cated Chinese at least would inquire and learn what were their 
provisions, and a natural curiosity would be manifested to know 
something about the peoples of those lands. Nothing could be 
more likely — nothing was farther from the reality. No efforts 
were ever made by the imperial officers at the capital or in the 
provinces to promulgate these national compacts, whose original 
and ratified copies were never even transmitted to Peking. 
Consequently, the existence and nature of these hwo yoh, or 
' peace contracts,' had to be continually taught to the natives, 



DISPOSITION OF CHINESE TOWARD FOREIGNERS. 227 

who on their part did not usually feel themselves under much 
obligation to obey them. In China, as elsewhere, just laws 
never execute themselves, and it is hardly surprising that not an 
officer of the Emperor should go out of his way to enforce their 
distasteful stipulations. 

It was therefore uphill work to see that the treaties did not 
become a dead letter, and all the hardest part of this labor fell 
to the lot of the British consuls. They alone stood forth 
among foreign officials as invested with some power of their 
own ; and being generally able to use the Chinese language, they 
came into personal relations with the local officers, and thus 
began the only effectual mode through which the treaties could 
become agencies for breaking down the hoary wall of prejudice, 
ignorance, and contempt which had so long kept China out of 
the pale of progress. In doing this, no fixed course could be 
laid down ; though the constant tendency of the consuls was to 
encroach on the power of the mandarins, these latter were gen- 
erally able to recur to the treaties, and thus learn the necessity 
and benefits of adherence to them. Their education was a 
colossal undertaking, and considering the enormous difficulties, 
its progress has been as rapid as was consistent with the welfare 
of themselves or their subjects. In this progress they bear the 
greatest share of the burden ; its responsibilities and costs, its 
risks and results, almost wholly come upon them, while foreign 
nations, with the immense undefined rights of exterritoriality on 
their side, are interested on -lookers, ready to take advantage of 
every faux pas to compel them to conform to their interpretation 
of the treaties. Very little consideration is given to their igno- 
rance of international law, to their full belief in the power of 
China, or to their consequent disinclination to accept the new 
order of things so suddenly forced on them. On the other 
hand, no one who knows all the features of this period will with- 
hold the praise due to the British authorities in China for their 
conduct in relations with its functionaries ; it might fairly be 
added that the improved state of international intercourse is 
mostly due to them. 

The condition of the Empire at the close of the war was 
most discouraging to its rulers, who had not dreamed of re- 



228 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ceiving so crushing a defeat. It is creditable to them that they 
honorably paid up the $21,000,000 exacted of them by the 
British, who of course restored Chusan at the stipulated time. 
The name of R. Montgomery Martin, then treasurer of Hong- 
kong colony, must be awarded due mention as being the only 
Queen's official who endeavored to resist its surrender, on the 
plea of its great benefit to her eastern empire and influence. 
Sir John Davis speaks of the " political and military consider- 
ations " which gave importance to it ; but the proposal of Mr. 
Martin was promptly rejected by his superiors, and the whole 
archipelago has since been neglected. At the four northern 
ports opened by treaty, with the exception of Fuhchau, trade 
began without difficulty. This city having entirely escaped the 
ravages of the war, its proud gentry influenced the citizens 
against foreigners and their trade ; the first European residents 
there met with some ill-usage, but this bitter feeling gradually 
wore off as the parties became better known. 

At Canton the case was aggravated by the prejudices of race 
and the turbulence of the unemployed braves who had flocked 
into it on the invitation and inducements of Commissioner Lin 
to enlist against the English. They had been disbanded by 
Kiying, but had not returned to their homes ; their lawlessness 
increased till it threatened the supremacy of the provincial gov- 
ernment, and required the strongest measures of repression. 
The disorders spread rather than diminished under an impover- 
ished treasury and ill-paid soldiery, and prepared the way for 
the rebellion which during the next twenty years tasked the ut- 
most resources of the nation. The ignorance of one part of its 
people of what was taking place in another province — which 
during the foreign war so greatly crippled the Emperor's efforts 
to interest his subjects in this struggle — here did much to pre- 
serve them from uniting against him to his overthrow. It was 
plain to every candid observer that however weak, unprincipled, 
and tyrannical the Manchu rulers might be, they were as efficient 
sovereigns as the people could produce, and no substituted sway 
could possibly elevate and purify them until higher principles of 
social and political life had been adopted by the nation at large. 

The protracted convulsion, known abroad as the Tai-ping 



CAUSES OF THE TAI-PIISTG INSUEEECTION. 229 

Rebellion, owed much of its duration as well to the exposure of 
the government's internal rottenness as to its weakness against 
foreign nations ; but many other causes were at work. The 
body of the Chinese people are well aware that their rulers are 
no better than themselves in morals, honesty, or patriotism ; but 
they are all ready to ascribe the evils they suffer from robbers, 
taxation, exactions, and unjust sentences to those in authority. 
The rulers are conscious that their countrymen consider it honor- 
able to evade taxes, defy the police when they can safely do so, 
and oppose rather than aid in the maintenance of law and order. 
There is no basis of what in Christian lands is regarded as tbe 
foundation of social order and just government — the power of 
conscience and amenableness to law ; nevertheless, from the 
habits of obedience taught in the family and in the schoolroom, 
the people have attained a good degree of security for them- 
selves and show much regard to just rulers. The most serious 
evils and sufferings in Chinese society are caused by its dis- 
orderly members, not its rapacious rulers ; and both can only be 
removed and reformed by the reception of a higher code which 
raises the standard of action from expediency to obligation. 

In giving an account of the rise and overthrow of the Tai-ping 
Rebellion, it will be necessary to limit the narrative to the most 
important religious, political, and military events connected with 
it up to its suppression in 1867. The phrase " Tai-ping Rebel- 
lion " is wholly of foreign manufacture ; at Peking and every- 
where among those loyal to the government the insurgents were 
styled Chang-mao tseh, or ' Long-haired rebels,' while on their 
side, by a whimsical resemblance to English slang, the imperial- 
ists were dubbed imps. When the chiefs assumed to be aiming 
at independence in 1850, in order to identify their followers 
with their cause they took the term Ping Chao, or ' Peace 
Dynasty,' as the style of their sway, to distinguish it from the 
Tsing Ohao, or ' Pure Dynasty,' of the Manchus. Each of them 
prefixed the adjective Ta (or Tai, in Cantonese), ' Great,' as is the 
Chinese custom with regard to dynasties and nations ; thus the 
name Tai-jping became known to foreigners. The leader took 
the style Tien-teh, or ' Heavenly Virtue,' for his reign, thereby 
indicating his aim in seeking the throne. His own personal 



230 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

name, Hung Siu-tsuen, was regarded as too sacred to be used by 
bis followers. The banners and edicts used at Nanking and in 
his army bore the inscription, Tien-fu, Tien-hiung, Tien-wan g 
Tai-jping Tien-Jcwoh, or i Heavenly Father, Heavenly Elder 
Brother, Heavenly King of the Great Peace [Dynasty] of the 
Heavenly Kingdom ' (i.e., China). 

The incidents of this man's early life and education were as- 
certained in 1854, from his relative Hung Jin, by the Rev. 
Theodore Hamberg, whose narrative x bears the marks of a 
trustworthy recital. Hung Siu-tsuen was the youngest son of 
Hung Jang, a well-to-do farmer living in Hwa hien, a district 
situated on the North River, about thirty miles from Canton 
city, in a small village of which he was the headman. The 
family was from Kiaying prefecture, on the borders of Kiangsi, 
and the whole village was regarded as belonging to the Hakkas, 
or Squatters, and had little intercourse with the Pun-tis, or In- 
digenes, on that account. Siu-tsuen was born in 1813, and at the 
usual age of seven entered school, where he showed remarkable 
aptitude for study. His family being too poor to spare his ser- 
vices long, he had to struggle and deny himself, as many a poor 
aspirant for fame in all lands has done, in order to fit himself to 
enter the regular examinations. In 1826 his name appeared on 
the list of candidates in Hwa hien, but Hung Jin says : " Though 
his name was always among the first upon the board at the dis- 
trict examinations, yet he never succeeded in attaining the 
degree of Siu-tsai." In 1833 he was at Canton at the triennial 
examination, when he met with the native evangelist Liang 
A-fah, who was distributing and selling a number of his own 
writings near the Kung yuen to the candidates as they went in 
and out of the hall. Attracted by the venerable aspect of this 
man, he accepted a set of his tracts called Kiuen Shi Liang 
Yen, or ' Good Words to Exhort the Age.' He took them home 
with him, but threw them aside when he found that they ad- 
vocated Christianity, then a proscribed doctrine. 

In 1837 he was again in the provincial tripos, where his re- 

1 Visions of Hung Siu-tshuen and Origin of the Kwang-si Insurrection, Hong- 
kong, 1854. Mr. W. Sargent in the North American Review for July, 1854, 
Vol. LXXIX., p. 158. 



THE LIFE OF HUNG SIU-TSUEN. 231 

peated disappointment and discontent aggravated an illness that 
seized him. On reaching his home he took to his bed and pre- 
pared for death, having had several visions foretokening his de- 
cease. He called his parents to his bedside and thus addressed 
them : " My days are counted and my life will soon be closed. 
O my parents ! how badly have I returned the favor of your love 
to me ; I shall never attain a name that shall reflect lustre on you." 
After littering these words he shut his eyes and lost all strengtli 
and command over his body, and became unconscious of what 
was going on around him. His outward senses were inactive, 
his body appeared as dead, but his soul was acted upon by a pe- 
culiar energy, seeing and remembering things of a very extra- 
ordinary nature. 

At first, when his eyes were closed he saw a dragon, a tiger, 
and a cock enter the room; a great number of men playing 
upon instruments then approached, bearing a beautiful sedan- 
chair in which they invited him to be seated. x\ot knowing 
what to make of this honor, he was carried away to a luminous 
and beautiful place wherein a multitude of fine men and women 
saluted him on arrival with expressions of joy. On leaving the 
sedan an old woman took him down to a river, saying : " Thou 
dirty man, why hast thou kept company with yonder people and 
defiled thyself ? I must now wash thee clean." After the 
washing was over he entered a large building in company with 
a crowd of old and virtuous men, some of whom were the ancient 
sages. Here they opened his body, took out the heart and other 
organs, and replaced them by new ones of a red color ; this 
done, the wound closed without leaving a scar. The whole 
assembly then went on to another larger hall, whose splendor 
was beyond description, in which an aged man, with a golden 
beard and dressed in black robes, sat on the highest place. See- 
ing Siu-tsuen, he began to shed tears and said : " All human 
beings in the world are produced and sustained by me ; they eat 
my food and wear my clothing, but not one among them has a 
heart to remember and venerate me ; what is worse, they take 
my gifts and therewith worship demons ; they purposely rebel 
against me and arouse my anger. Do thou not imitate them." 
Hereupon he gave him a sword to destroy the demons, a seal to 



232 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

overcome the evil spirits, and a sweet yellow fruit to eat. Sin- 
tsuen received them, and straightway began to exhort his vener- 
able companions to perform their duties to their master. After 
doing so even to tears, the high personage led him to a spot 
whence he could behold the world below, and discern the horrible 
depravity and vice of its inhabitants. The sight was too awful to 
be endured, and words were inadequate to describe it. So he 
awoke from his trance, and had vigor enough to rise and dress 
himself and go to his father. Making a bow, Siu-tsuen said : " The 
venerable old man above has commanded that all men shall turn 
to me, and that all treasures shall flow to me." This sickness 
continued about forty days, and the visions were multiplied. 
He often met with a man in them whom he called his elder 
brother, who instructed him how to act and assisted him in 
going after and killing evil spirits. He became more and 
more possessed with the idea, as his health returned, that he 
had been commissioned to be Emperor of China ; and one day 
his father found a slip on which was written " The Heavenly 
King of Great Reason, the Sovereign King Tsuen." As time 
wore on, this lofty idea seems to have more and more developed 
his mind to a soberness and purity which overaweii and at- 
tracted him. Nothing is said about his utterances while the 
war with England was progressing, but he must have known its 
progress and results. His cataleptic fits and visions seem not 
to have returned, and he pursued his avocation as a school- 
teacher until about 1843, having meanwhile failed in another 
trial to obtain his degree at Canton. In that year his wife's 
brother asked to take away the nine tracts of Liang A-fah to 
see what they contained ; when he returned them to Siu-tsuen 
he urged him to read them too. 

They consisted of sixty-eight short chapters upon common 
topics, selected from the Bible, and not exactly fitted to give 
him, in his excited state and total ignorance of western books 
and religion, a fair notion of Christianity. As he read them 
he saw, as he thought, the true meaning of his visions. The 
venerable old man was no other than God the Father, and his 
guide was Jesus Christ, who had assisted him in slaying the 
demons. " These books are certainly sent purposely by heaven 



HIS BELIEF IN HIS DIVINE CALLING. 233 

to me to confirm the truth of my former experience. If I had 
received them without having gone through the sickness, I 
should not have dared to believe in them, and by myself to op- 
pose the customs of the whole world. If I had merely been 
sick, but not also received the books, I should have had no fur- 
ther evidence as to the truth of my visions, which might also 
have been considered as mere products of a diseased imagina- 
tion." 

This sounds reasonable, and commends itself as wholly unlike 
the ravings of a madman. Nevertheless, while it would be 
unwise for us to closely criticise this narrative in its details, 
and assert that Siu-tsuen's pretensions were all hypocritical, we 
must bear in mind the fact that he had certainly, neither at 
this time nor ever afterward, a clear conception of the true 
nature of Christianity, judging from his writings and edicts. 
The nature of sin, and the dominion of God's law upon the 
sinner ; the need of atonement from the stain and effects of 
sin ; Christ's mediatorial sacrifice ; were subjects on which he 
could not possibly have received full instruction from these 
fragmentary essays. In after days his conviction of his own 
divine calling to rule over China, seems to have blinded his 
understanding to the spiritual nature of the Christian church. 
His individual penchant was insufficient to resist or mould the 
subordinates who accepted his mission for their own ends. But 
he was not a tool in their hands at any time, and his personal 
influence permeated the ignorant mass of reckless men around 
him to an extraordinary degree, while his skill in turning some 
of the doctrines and requirements of the Bible as the ground 
and proofs of his own authority indicated original genius, since 
the results were far beyond the reach of a cunning impostor. 
From first to last, beginning with poverty, obscurity, and weak- 
ness in Hwa, continuing with distinction, power, and royalty at 
Nanking and throughout its five adjacent provinces, and ending 
with defeat, desertion, and death in his own palace, Hung never 
wavered or abated one jot of his claim to supreme rule on 
earth. When his end was reported at Peking in August, 1864, 
thirty-one years after his receiving Liang A-fah's tracts, the 
imperial rescript sadly said : " Words cannot convey any idea 



234 HISTORY OF CHINA. , 

of the misery and desolation he caused ; the measure of his 
iniquity was full, and the wrath of both gods and men was 
roused against him." 

A career so full of exceptional interest and notable incidents 
cannot, of course, be minutely described in this sketch. After 
Hung's examination of the tracts which had lain unnoticed in 
his hands for ten years, followed by his conviction of the real 
meaning of his visions in 1837, he began to proclaim his mis- 
sion and exhort those around him to accept Christianity. Hung 
Jin (who furnished Mr. Hamberg with his statements) and a 
fellow-student, Fung Yun-shan, were his first converts; they 
agreed to put away all idols and the Confucian tablet out of 
their schools, and then baptized or washed themselves in a 
brook near by, as a sign of their purification and faith in Jesus. 
As they had no portion of the Sacred Scriptures to guide them, 
they were at a loss to understand many things spoken of by 
Liang A-fah, but his expositions of the events and doctrines 
occurring in them were deeply pondered and accepted. The 
Mosaic account of creation and the Hood, destruction of Sodom, 
sermon on the Mount, and nature of the final judgment, were 
given in them, as well as a full relation of Christ's life and 
death ; and these prepared the neophytes to receive the Bible 
when they got it. But the same desire to find proof of his 
own calling led Siu-tsuen to iix on fanciful renderings of cer- 
tain texts, and, after the manner of commentators in other lands, 
to extract meanings never intended. A favorite conceit, among 
others, was to assume that wherever the character tsuen, ^, 
meaning ' whole,' ' altogether,' occurred in a verse, it meant 
himself, and as it forms a part of the Chinese phrase for al- 
mighty, he thus had strong reasons (as he thought) for his 
course. The phrase Tien kwoh, denoting the ' Kingdom of 
Heaven ' in Christ's preaching, they applied to China. With 
such preconceived views it is not wonderful that the brethren 
were all able to fortify themselves in their opinions by the 
strongest arguments. All those discourses in the series relat- 
ing to repentance, faith, and man's depravity were apparently 
entirely overlooked by them. 

The strange notions, unaffected earnestness, moral conduct, and 



HIS CONVERSION AND EARLY ADHERENTS. 235 

new ideas about God and happiness of these men soon began to 
attract people to them, some to dispute and cavil, others to ac- 
cept and worship with them. Their scholars, one and all, de- 
serted them as soon as the Confucian tablet was removed from 
the schoolroom, and they were left penniless and unemployed, 
sometimes subjected to beatings and obloquy for embracing an 
outlandish religion, and other times ridiculed for forsaking their 
ancestral halls. The number of their adherents was too few to 
detain them at home, and in May, 1844, Siu-tsuen, Yun-shan, 
and two associates resolved to visit a distant relative who lived 
near the Miaotsz' in Kwangsi, and get their living along the 
road by peddling ink-stones and pencils. They reached the ad- 
joining district, Tsingyuen, where they preached two months 
and baptized several persons ; some time after Hung Jin took 
a school there, and remained several years, baptizing over fifty 
converts. Siu-tsuen and Yun-shan came to the confines of the 
Miaotsz' in Sinchau f u in three months, preaching the existence 
of the true God and of redemption by his Son, and after many 
vicissitudes reached their relative's house in Kwei hien among 
the mountains. Here they tarried all summer, and their earnest 
zeal in spreading the doctrines which they evidently had found 
so cheering to their own hearts, arrested the attention of these 
rude mountaineers, and many of them professed their faith in 
Christ. Siu-tsuen returned home in the winter, and was dis- 
appointed in not finding his colleague Yun-shan there as well 
as the other two, nor could he give any account of his course. 
It appeared afterward that Yun-shan had met some acquaint- 
ances on his road, and became so much interested in preaching 
to them at Thistle-mount that he remained there two years, 
teaching school and gathering churches. 

Siu-tsuen continued to teach and preach the truth as he had 
learned it from the books in his hands. In 1846 he heard of I 
J. Roberts, the American missionary, living at Canton, and the 
next spring received an invitation to come there and study. He 
and Hung Jin did so ; the former remained with Mr. Roberts 
about two months, giving him a narrative of his own visions, con- 
version, and preaching, at the same time learning the nature and 
extent of foreign mission work in that city. He made a visit 



236 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

home with two native Christians, who had been sent to Hwa 
to learn more about him. They seem to have obtained good re- 
ports of his character ; but others in Mr. Koberts' employ were 
afraid of his influence if he should enter their church, and 
therefore intrigued to have him refused admission just then. 
Mr. Roberts appears to have acted discreetly according to the 
light he had respecting the applicant's integrity, and would no 
doubt have baptized him had not the latter soon after left 
Canton, where he had no means of support. At this time 
the political disturbances in Kwangtung seem to have greatly 
influenced Siu-tsuen's course, and when he reached home he 
made a second visit to his relative, and thence went to Thistle- 
mount to rejoin Fung Yun-shan. Hung Jin states that before 
this date he had expressed disloyal sentiments against the Man- 
chus, but these are so common among the Cantonese that they 
attracted no notice. On seeing Yun-shan and meeting the two 
thousand converts he had gathered, it is pretty certain that 
hopes of a successful resistance must have revived in his breast. 
A woman among them also began to relate some visions she 
had seen ten years before, foretelling the advent of a man who 
should teach them how to worship God. The number of con- 
verts rapidly increased in three prefectures adjacent to the 
fviver Yuh in the eastern part of Kwangsi, and no serious hin- 
drance was met with from the officials, though there were not 
wanting enemies, by one of whom Yun-shan was accused and 
then thrown into prison. However, the prefect and district 
magistrate to whom the case was referred, finding no sufficient 
cause for punishment, liberated him ; though the new sectaries 
had made themselves somewhat obnoxious to the idolaters by 
their iconoclasm — so hard is it to learn patience and toleration 
in any country. In very many villages in that region the 
Shangti hwu% or ' Associations for worshipping God,' began to 
be recognized, but they do not seem to have quoted the tolera- 
tion edict obtained in 1844 in favor of Christianity, as that only 
spoke of the Tien-chu Mao, or Catholics. The worship of 
Shangti is a peculiar function of the Emperor, as has been al- 
ready explained ; and it is not surprising to be told by Hung 
Jin that the new sect was regarded as treasonable. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE SHANGTI HWUI. 237 

In 1848 Siu-tsuen's father died trusting in the new faith and 
directing that no Buddhist services be held at his funeral ; the 
whole family had by this time become its followers, and when 
the son and Yun-shan met them soon after, they began to dis- 
cuss their future. The believers in Kwangsi were left to take 
care of themselves during the whole winter, and appear to have 
gone on with their usual meetings without hindrance. In June, 
1849, the two leaders left Hwa for Kwangsi, assisted by the 
faithful, and found much to encourage them in their secret 
plans in the general unity which pervaded the association. 
Some members had been favored with visions, others had be- 
come exhorters, denouncing those who behaved contrary to the 
doctrines ; others essayed to cure diseases. Siu-tsuen was im- 
mediately acknowledged by all as their leader ; he set himself 
to introduce and maintain a rigid discipline, forbade the use of 
opium and spirits, introduced the observance of the Sabbath, 
and regulated the worship of God. No hint of calling in the aid 
of a foreign teacher to direct them in their new services ap- 
pears to have been suggested by any member, nor even of send- 
ing to Canton to engage the services of a native convert, though 
Liang A-fah was still living then. The whole year was thus 
passed at Thistle-mount, and the nucleus of the future force 
thoroughly imbued with the ideas of their leader, who had, by 
June, 1850, gathered around him his own relatives and chosen 
his lieutenants. 1 

The existence of such a large body of people, acting together 
under the orders of one man, whose aspirations and teachings 
had gradually filled their minds with new ideas, could not re- 
main unnoticed by the authorities. The governor-general lived 
at Canton, and received his information through local magis- 
trates and prefects, whose policy was rather to understate the 
truth. But Su Kwang-tsin felt that he was not fitted for the 
coming struggle. His place was therefore filled by the appoint- 

1 The insurgents cut off the tail, allowed their hair to grow, and decided that 
all who joined the insurrectional movement should leave off the dicing and 
the Tartar tunic, and should wear the robe open in the front, which their an- 
cestors had worn in the time of the Mings. — Gallery and Yvan, History of the 
Insurrection in China, translated by John Oxenford, p. 61. London, 1853. 



238 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ment of Lin, then living in Fuhchau, who started to fulfil his 
new charge, but died in October, as he entered the province. 
Governor Sli was obliged to leave Canton on duty, but he never 
met the enemy nor returned to his post. The populace of the 
city made themselves merry over his violent conduct toward a 
poor paper-image maker near the landing, who had just set out 
to dry some effigies dressed in high official costume, each one 
lacking a head. Stl chose to regard this proceeding as an in- 
tentional insult, as the artisan must have known that he was to 
pass by that way, and ordered him to be bambooed and his effi- 
gies destroyed to neutralize the bad omen. The Peking govern- 
ment had just sent three Manchus to superintend operations in 
Kwangsi ; their predecessors, Li and Chau, with the provincial 
governor, Ching, were all degraded, but these new imperial 
officials did no better, nor did those on the spot expect that 
they would succeed. Tahungah was the ruffian who had exe- 
cuted one hundred and eighty British prisoners in Formosa 
nine years before ; and Saishangah was the prime minister of 
the young Emperor Hienfung, as worthless as he was depraved. 
Uruntai, who had long been in command of the Manchu garri- 
son at Canton, was also sent, in May, 1851, to check the grow- 
ing power of the insurgents. They were well posted in Wu- 
siuen hien, near the junction of two rivers, and this chieftain 
naively expresses his surprise in his report to the Emperor that 
the rebels should occupy an important post which he had just 
decided to fortify. However, his official report ' explains the 
reasons for the imperial reverses better than anything which 
had hitherto appeared. Corruption, venality, idleness, opium- 
smoking, and peculation had made the whole army a mass of 
rottenness ; no one can wonder that the Tai-pings marched 
without danger through the land to their goal at Xanking. 

A year previous to this date, however, the conflict had been 
begun by the followers of Siu-tsuen. In their zeal against idol- 
atry they had destroyed temples and irritated the people, which 
ere long aroused a spirit of distrust and enmity ; this was fur- 
ther increased by the long-standing feud and mutual hatred 



Chinese Eepositoi'y, Vol. XX. , p. 493. 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLT. 239 

between the pun-tis and hakkas (natives and squatters) which 
ran through society. Siu-tsuen and his chiefs were mostly of 
the latter class, and whenever villages were attacked and the 
hakkas worsted, they moved over to Thistle-mount and pro- 
fessed to worship Shangti with Siu-tsuen. In this way the 
whole population had become more or less split up into parties. 
When a body of imperial soldiers sent to arrest him and Yun- 
shan were driven off, they availed themselves of the enthusiasm 
of their followers to gather them and occupy Lienchu, a large 
market-town in Kwei hien. This proceeding attracted to their 
banner all the needy and discontented spirits in that region, but 
their own partisans were now able to regulate and employ ail 
who came, requiring a close adherence to their religious tenets 
and worship. This town of Lienchu was soon fortified, and the 
order of a camp began to appear among its possessors, who, 
however, spared the townspeople. The drilling of the force, 
now increased to many thousands, commenced ; its vitality was 
soon tested when it was deemed best to cross the river and ad- 
vance on Taitsun in order to obtain more room. The imperial- 
ists were hoodwinked by a simple device, and w T hen they found 
their enemy had marched off, their attack on the rear was re- 
pulsed with much loss. Like all their class, they turned their 
wrath on the peaceful inhabitants of Lienchu, killing and burn- 
ing till almost nothing was left. This needless cruelty recoiled 
on themselves, and all the members of the Shangti hwui, loyal 
and disaffected alike, felt that their very name carried sedition 
in it, and they must join Siu-tsuen's standard or give up their 
faith. He had induced some recent comers belonging to the 
Triad Society to put their money into the military chest and 
to submit to his rules. One of his religious teachers had been 
detected embezzling the funds while on their way to the com- 
missariat, but the public trial and execution of the man had 
served both as a warning and an encouragement to the different 
classes who witnessed the affair. Most of the Triad chiefs, how- 
ever, were afraid of such discipline, and drew off to the imperial- 
ists with the greater number of their followers. The defection 
furnished Siu-tsuen an opportunity to make known his settled 
opposition to this fraternity, and that every man joining his 



240 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

party must leave it. At this time the discipline and good order 
exhibited in the encampment at Taitsun must have struck the 
people around it with surprise and admiration, if the meagre 
accounts we have received are at all trustworthy. 

About one year elapsed between the conflict near Lienchu 
and the capture of Yung-ngan chau, a city on the River Mei in 
Pingloh prefecture. During this period Siu-tsuen had be- 
come more and more possessed with the idea of his divine mis- 
sion from the Tien-fu y or ' Heavenly Father,' as God was now 
commonly called, and the Tien-hiung, or 'Heavenly Elder 
Brother,' as he termed Jesus Christ. He began to seclude 
himself from the gaze of his followers, and deliver to them 
such revelations as he received for the management of the force 
committed to him to clear the land of all idolatry and oppres- 
sion, and cheer the hearts of those pledged to the glorious 
cause. This course was destructive of all those peculiar tenets 
which Christianity teaches, and, so far as can be learned, neither 
he nor Yun-shan any longer prominently set forth the doctrines 
of salvation by repentance and faith in Christ, as they had done 
in their first journey among the Miaotsz', but held their follow- 
ers together by fanaticism and the hope of final triumph. In 
its main features, his course was copied from that of Moses and 
Aaron when they withdrew into the tabernacle, and it was 
easy to impress upon his uninstructed followers the repetition 
in his person of the same mode of making known the will of 
Heaven. An adequate reason can also be found in this scheme 
why he never called in the aid of foreign missionaries to teach 
his followers the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, knowing full 
well that none of them would lend any countenance to such de- 
lusion. As early as April, 1849, when still in Kwei hien, he 
began to promulge his decrees in the form of revelations re- 
ceived from the Heavenly Father and Elder Brother, when one 
or the other came down into the world to tell him what course 
he should pursue. In March, 1853, just before capturing Xan- 
king, he issued a book of " Celestial Decrees," containing a 
series of these revelations, from which the real nature of his 
character can be learned. Two extracts will be sufficient to 
quote : 



241 

The Heavenly Father addressed the multitude, saying, O my children ! Do 
you know your Heavenly Father and your Celestial Elder Brother ? To which 
they all replied, We know our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother. 
The Heavenly Father then said, Do you know your Lord, and truly ? To 
which they all replied, We know our Lord right well. The Heavenly Father 
said, I have sent your Lord down into the world to become the Celestial King 
( Tien-wang) ; every word he utters is a celestial command ; you must he obe- 
dient ; you must truly assist your Lord and regard your King ; you must not 
dare to act disorderly, nor to be disrespectful. If you do not regard your Lord 
and King, every one of you will be involved in difficulty. l 

It is only from these official documents that we can learn the 
real political and religious tenets of the revolutionists now in- 
trenched at Yung-ngan, and soon to burst forth in fury upon 
their country. It was in vain to expect gospel figs from such a 
bramble bush. 

Another extract exhibits their j ugglery still more clearly. It 
is dated December 9, 1851, and contains the proceedings and 
sentence in the case of Chau Sih-nang, who had been detected 
holding intercourse with General Saishangah at Taitsun. Four 
of the kings were that day consulting upon some weighty mat- 
ters, when suddenly the Heavenly Father came down among 
them and secretly told them to instantly arrest Chau and two 
others and bring them to Yang, the Eastern King, while he re- 
turned to heaven. They did so, and reported the matter to the 
Tien-wang, but none of them had any evidence to proceed upon. 
" Happily, however, the Heavenly Father gave himself the 
trouble to appear once more," and ordered two of the royal cou- 
sins to go and inform the several princes of his presence. They 
all attended at court and entreated the Heavenly King to 
accompany them. Hereupon, his Majesty, guarded by the 
princes and body-guards, together with a host of officials, ad- 
vanced into the presence of the Heavenly Father. They all 
kneeled down and asked, " Is the Heavenly Father come down ? " 
He replied, addressing the Tien-wang, " Siu-tsuen, I am going 
to take this matter in hand to-day ; a mere mortal would find 
it a hard task. One Chau has been holding collusive commu- 

1 This decree bears the date April 19, 1851, at Tung-hiang, a village near 
Wusiuen. 



242 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

nication with the enemy yesterday, and has returned to court, 
intending to carry into effect a very serious revolt. Go and 
bring him here." The culprit soon came, and the examination 
is reported in full. In answer to the question, " Who is it that 
is now speaking to you ? " he replied, " The Heavenly Father, 
the Supreme Lord and Great God (Shangti) is addressing me." 
He said soon after, " I am aware that the Heavenly Father is 
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent." By a series of 
questions his guilt was proved, and he and his accomplices, with 
his wife and son, were all put to death as a warning to traitors, 
in presence of a large concourse, to whom they confessed the 
justice of their fate. 

When in possession of Nanking, Hung Siu-tsuen was for- 
mally proclaimed by his army to be Emperor of China, and as- 
sumed the style and insignia of royalty. Five leading chiefs were 
appointed to their several corps as South, East, West, North, 
and Assistant Kings ; Fung Yun-shan was the Southern King. 
Who among them were the efficient disciplinarians and leading 
minds in carrying on their plan cannot be now ascertained, so 
complete was the secrecy which enveloped the whole movement 
from first to last as to the personnel of the force. Dr. Medhurst's 
translations of their orders, tenets, laws, revelations, and text- 
books furnish the most authentic sources for estimating its 
character, but they fail to describe its living agents. In so 
large an army, composed of the most heterogeneous elements, 
it cannot be expected that there would be at any time much 
knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, on which its leaders based 
their assumed powers derived from the ' Heavenly Father and 
Elder Brother ; ' but there certainly was a remarkable degree 
of sobriety and discipline among them during the first few 
years of their existence. A most perplexing question, which 
increased in its urgency and difficulty as soon as opposition 
drove the rebel general to intrench himself at Lienchu, was 
temporarily arranged by forming a separate encampment for 
the women, and placing over them officers of their own sex to 
see that discipline was maintained. In doing this he allowed 
the married people as great facilities for the care of their chil- 
dren as was possible under the conditions of army life ; but 



THE EEBEL ADVANCE TO THE YAXGTSZ' . 243 

during their progress through the land in 1852 and 1853, much 
suffering must have been endured. 

In 1852 the state and size of the army in Yung-ngan fully 
authorized the leaders of the revolt to march northward. Sev- 
eral engagements had given their men confidence in each other 
as they saw the imperialists put to flight ; defeats had further- 
more shown that their persevering enemy entertained no idea 
of sparing even one of them if captured. The want of provi- 
sions during their five months' siege within its walls further 
trained them to a certain degree of patient endurance ; when, 
therefore, they broke through the besieging force in three di- 
visions on the night of April 7, 1852, they were animated by 
success and hope to possess themselves of the Empire. March- 
ing north they now attacked Kweilin, the provincial capital, 
May 15th, but having no cannon fit to besiege a walled city of 
that size, crossed the border and captured Tau in Hunan, which 
gave them access to the Iiiver Siang and means of transporta- 
tion. Their course was thenceforth an easy conquest of the 
towns along its valley. Kweiyang chau, Chin chau, Tunghing, 
Nganjin, and others were taken and evacuated, one after the 
other, until they reached the capital of this province, September 
18th. Changsha and Siangtan together form one immense city, 
and its defenders fully understood their peril, and the prob- 
ability of entire destruction if they allowed it to be captured. 
For eighty days the Tai-pings exerted themselves in vain to 
obtain possession, losing, however, very few men, and doing no 
great harm to their enemy, who kept beyond reach. December 
1st they raised the siege, and by the 13th reached Yohchau on 
the Yangtsz ', which was taken without a struggle. Ten days 
after, replenished and encouraged by the spoil found in Yoh- 
chau, they occupied Hanyang and Wuchang, the capital of 
Hupeh province, lying on the other side of the river. Its gar- 
rison was unable to escape, and many soldiers were destroyed. 
Hwangchau and Kiukiang, two prefect cities lower down, were 
captured January 12th and February 18th, while Nganking, 
the capital of Nganhwui, fell a week later. Nothing seemed 
able to resist the advance of the insurgents, and on March 
8th they encamped before Nanking. It was garrisoned by 



244 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Manclms and Chinese, who, however, made no better defence 
than their comrades in other cities ; in ten days its walls were 
breached, and all the defenders found inside put to death, in- 
cluding Luh, the governor-general of the province. Chinkiang 
and Yangchau soon were dragged to the same fate, thus depriv- 
ing the imperialists of their control of the Grand Canal. 

This rapid progress through the land since leaving Yung-ngan 
eleven months previously had spread consternation among the 
demoralized officers and soldiers of the Emperor, who, on his 
part, was as weak and ignorant as any of his subordinates. 
The march of the insurgents showed the utter hollo wness of 
the imperial troops, the incapacity of their most trusted leaders, 
and the little interest taken by the great body of the nation in 
the conflict. Many causes which might adequately explain 
this extraordinary success cannot now be ascertained, but a 
national dislike of the Manchus on the part of the Chinese lay 
at the bottom of their coldness. They felt, too, that a gov- 
ernment which could not protect them against a few thousand 
foreign troops might as well give place to a native one. The 
insurgents had perhaps not more than ten thousand adherents, 
including women and children, when they left Yung-ngan ; * 
but these went forth in the full conviction of the heavenly 
commission of their leader to destroy idolatry, set up the wor- 
ship of the true God, and inaugurate the kingdom of heaven 
in the person of the "Heavenly King." The term Shangt/t 
was known by every schoolboy to be the name of the God wor- 
shipped at Peking by the Emperor in his right as Son of Heaven, 
and the successor of the ancient sovereigns mentioned in the 
Shu King • accordingly, when the insurgents set up the wor- 
ship of the true God as they had been able to learn it from 
Gutzlaff's revised version of the Bible, their countrymen im- 
mediately recognized the challenge. It was an attack on the 
religious as well as political position of Taukwang ; whoever 
maintained his side in the gage of battle, with him were un- 
doubtedly the powers above. The progress of the new banner 



1 Though, one of their officers told Mr. Meadows, at Nanking, that the force 
was about three thousand. 



SOURCES OF THEIR STRENGTH. 245 

from Yung-ngan to Nanking was like that of a fiery cross, and 
the sufferings of the people, except in a few large cities, were 
really more owing to the savage imperialists than to the Tai- 
pings. The latter grew in strength as they advanced, owing 
to indiscriminate slaughter on the part of their enemies of 
unoffending natives, and at last reached their goal with not 
much less than eighty thousand men. 

Their position was now accessible to foreigners — who had 
been watching their rise and progress under great disadvantages 
in arriving at the truth — and they were soon visited by them 
in steamers. The first to do so was Governor Bonham in 
H. M. S. Hermes, accompanied by T. T. Meadows, one of the 
most competent linguists in China, who published the result of 
his inquiries. The visitors were at first received with incre- 
dulity, but this soon gave way to eager curiosity to learn the real 
nature of their religious views and practices. The insurgents 
themselves were even more ignorant of foreigners than were 
these of the rebels, so that the interest could not fail to be re- 
ciprocal, nor could either party desire to come into collision 
with the other. 

About two months after the cities of Nanking, Chinkiang, 
and Yangchau had been taken, garrisoned, and put in a state 
of defence by their inhabitants, working under the direction of 
Tai-ping officers, the leaders felt so much confidence in their 
cause, their troops, and their ability, that they despatched a 
division to capture Peking. No particulars of its size or com- 
position are given, but its course and achievements are recorded 
in the Peking Gazette. The force landed not far from Kwa- 
chau, where it defeated a body of Manchus, and then proceeded 
to Liuho and Fungyang fu without finding serious opposition. 
Crossing the province of Nganhwui, they entered that of Ho- 
nan, and in one month from landing the troops laid siege to Kai- 
fung, the provincial capital, June 19th. Three days later they 
were repulsed, and their leaders crossed the Yellow River to 
Hwaiking fu, about a hundred miles west of Kaifung. For 
two months they were baffled by an unusual resistance on the 
part of the imperialists, and were compelled to leave it and go 
west into Shansi, where they took Pingyang fu and flanked the 



246 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

enemy by turning east and north-east till they crossed the Liu- 
ming pass and got into Chihli. It was their design to have 
gone down the River Wei to Lintsing chau on the Grand 
Canal, but they were compelled to make a detour of some 
hundreds of miles to reach this last place. In doing so 
they ascended the steep defiles leading from the basin of the 
Yellow River to the plateau in South Shansi. This march 
was accomplished in the month of September, and on October 
9th the prefect city of Shinchau in Chihli, only two hundred 
miles from Peking, was taken. Their army remained at Shin- 
chau for a fortnight, when they marched across the plain north- 
easterly to Tsinghai hien, on the Grand Canal. Here they 
intrenched themselves on October 28th, but twenty miles south 
of Tientsin. A detachment sent to attack that city was re- 
pulsed, and the whole body were blockaded on [November 3d by 
the Manchu force, which had followed it from Ilwaiking, and 
other corps ordered from the north to intercept its progress 
toward the capital. In six months this insurgent force had 
traversed four provinces, taken twenty-six cities, subsisted them- 
selves on the enemy, and defeated every body of imperialists 
sent against them. The men who performed this remarkable 
march of fully one thousand five hundred miles in the face of 
such odds, would have accomplished even greater deeds under 
better training. Considering all things, it is quite equal to 
General Sherman's march to the sea in 1864 ; yet so little is 
known of the details of this feat, that we are not even certain 
of its leader's name — whether Lin Fung-tsiang, spoken of by 
the Gazette as a ' Pretended Minister,' or some other general, 
was in command. 

It is rather hard to understand why the Tai-pings intrenched 
themselves so near to Tientsin, but the officials of that city, in 
1858, ascribed it to the fact that water covered the plain, pre- 
venting all operations against the town. Perhaps their want 
of siege guns, and the cavalry now brought from Mongolia, de- 
cided the leaders to intrench themselves at Tsinghai and send 
to Nanking for reinforcements. The Tai-ping Wang immedi- 
ately despatched an auxiliary force, which also crossed Ngan- 
hwui to Funghien on the north bank of the Yellow River ; this 



THE EXPEDITION AGAINST PEKING. 247 

place was captured Marcli 17, 1854, " after taking city after 
city," as the Emperor Hienf ung expressed it. The ice was gone 
when the army reached Lintsing chau, April 12th, and that 
city was taken by a fierce assault against the combined resist- 
ance of its garrison and the imperialists outside, after the in- 
surgent auxiliary was attacked in force. The other body had 
left Tsinghai in February, starved out rather than driven away, 
and gone to the district town of Hien, which they left Marcli 
10th for Fauching, and probably rejoined their comrades some- 
where between that and Lintsing. They were about a hundred 
miles apart, and the intervening region was no doubt forcibly 
drained of its supplies. This joint army remained in possession 
of their depots as long as they saw fit, and treated the inhabi- 
tants reasonably well, among whom there were no Manchus. 
The inability to understand each other's speech kept the people 
of this district from mixing with the southerners, and, combined 
with the impossibility of keeping open the road to banking, 
decided the Tai-pings to return. This they did in March, 1855, 
by re-entering Nganhwui and rejoining the main body where- 
ever ordered ; but no details are known of their movements for 
nearly a year before that date. Peking and the Great Pure 
dynasty were saved, however ; while the failure of Hung Siu- 
tsuen to risk all on such an enterprise proved his ignorance of 
the real point of this contest. He never was able to undertake 
a second campaign, and his followers soon degenerated into 
banditti. 

The possession of Nanking, Chinkiang, and Kwachau, with 
the large flotilla along the Yangtsz' Piver west to Ichang in 
Hupeh, a distance of over six hundred miles, had entirely sun- 
dered the Emperor's authority over the seven south-eastern prov- 
inces. The country on each side for fifty or one hundred and 
fifty miles was visited by the insurgents' troops merely for sup- 
plies. Their boats penetrated to Nanchang in Kiangsi, went 
up the Piver Siang even bej^ond Changsha in Hunan, ravaged 
one town after another in quest of provisions and reinforce- 
ments, which were either taken to Nanking or used to support 
the crews ; but nowhere did the leaders set up anything like a 
government, nowhere did they secure those who submitted or 



248 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

pursued their avocations quietly any protection against imperi- 
alist or other foes. As a revolution involving a reorganization 
of the Chinese nation on Christian principles, and a well-defined 
assertion of the rights and duties of rulers and subjects, it had 
failed entirely within a year after the possession of Nanking. 
There was no hope that any of the leaders in the movement 
would develop the ability to initiate the establishment of a con- 
sistent and suitable control, since not one of them was endowed 
either with the experience necessary to introduce provisional 
government over conquered communities, or with that tact cal- 
culated to impress their inhabitants with enduring confidence 
in them. All their prisoners were compelled to work or fight 
in their service, and were willing to earn their food and clothes ; 
while in obeying such orders, and going through such religious 
ceremonies as were told them, they of course had not much to 
complain of ; but this conduct did not imply hatred of the 
mandarins or an abjuration of Buddhism. 

During the three years after Nanking had been occupied, 
the people in the Yangtsz' valley had suffered much from the 
conflict. Both armies lived on the land, and the danger of re- 
sisting the demands for food, clothes, and animals was nearly 
equalled by that of joining the contending forces ; in either 
case beggary or loss of life was sure to be the end. As an in- 
stance of by no means unexampled suffering, the populous mart 
of Hankow and its environs was taken by assault six different 
times during the thirty months ending in May, 1855, and finally 
was left literally a heap of ruins. In country places the im- 
perialists were, of the two parties, perhaps the more terrible 
scourge, but as the region became impoverished each side vied 
with the other in exhausting the people. The Tai-pings were 
gradually circumscribed to the region around Nanking and 
Nganking by the slow approaches of the government troops, 
and in 1860 seemed to be near their end. The interest which 
had been aroused at Shanghai in 1853, upon hearing of their 
Christian tenets and organization, had been satisfied in the va- 
rious visits of foreign functionaries to Nanking, the intercourse 
with the leaders and men, perusal of their books, and observa- 
tion of their policy. 



FAILURE OF THE ENTERPRISE. 249 

One inherent defect in the enterprise, when viewed in its 
political bearing, ere long showed itself. Nothing could induce 
Hung Siu-tsuen to lead his men to the north and risk all 
in an attack on Peking. His own conviction of his divine mis- 
sion had been most cordially received by his generals and the 
entire body of followers which left Yung-ngan in 1S52; but 
their faith was not accepted by the enormous additions made to 
the Tai-pings as they advanced to banking, and gradually the 
original force became so diluted that it was inadequate to re- 
strain and inspirit their auxiliaries. Moreover, the Tien-wang 
had never seriously worked out any conception of the radical 
changes in his system of government, which it would be abso- 
lutely necessary to inaugurate under a Christian code of laws. 
Having had no knowledge of any western kingdom, he probably 
regarded them all as conformed to the rules and examples given 
in the Bible ; perhaps, too, he trusted that the " Heavenly Father 
and Elder Brother " would reveal the proper course of action 
when the time came. The great body of literati would natur- 
ally be indisposed to even examine the claims of a western 
religion which placed Shangti above all other gods, and allowed 
no images in worship, no ritual in temples, and no adoration to 
ancestors, to Confucius, or to the heavenly bodies. But if this 
patriotic call to throw off the Manchu yoke had been fortified 
by a well-devised system of public examinations for office — 
modified to suit the new order of things by introducing more 
practical subjects than those found in the classics — and had been 
put into practice, it is hard to suppose that the intellectual 
classes would not gradually have ranged themselves on the side 
of this rising power. The unnecessary cruelty and slaughter 
practised toward the Manchu garrisons and troops carried more 
dread into the hearts of the population than stimulus to co-oper- 
ate with such ruthless revolutionists. The latter had weakened 
their prospects by destroying confidence in their moderation, 
justice, and ability to carry out their aim to establish a new 
sway. There was a large foundation of national aspirations and 
real dislike to the present dvnasty, on which the Tien-wang could 
have safely reckoned for help and sympathy. But he was far 
from equal to the exigency of his opportunity. The doubts of 



250 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

his countrymen as to his competency were proved by the satis- 
faction and relief felt when his movement collapsed. 

When the remnants of the two corps which returned from 
the north in 1855 were incorporated into the forces holding the 
Grand Canal and the Liang Kiang province, their outposts 
hardly extended along the Great River beyond Chinkiang on 
the east and Nganking on the west. In that year dissensions 
sprung up among the leaders themselves inside* of Nanking, 
which ended in the execution of Yang, the Eastern King, the next 
year ; a fierce struggle maintained by Wei, the Northern King, 
on behalf of the Tien-wang, upheld his supremacy, but at a loss 
of his best general. Another man of note, Shih Ta-kai, the 
Assistant King, losing faith in the whole undertaking, managed 
to withdraw with a large following westward, and reached 
Sz'chuen. The early friend of Hung Siu-tsuen, Fung Yun- 
shan, known as the Southern King, disappeared about the same 
time. Rumors of these conflicts reached Shanghai in such 
a contradictory form that it was impossible to learn all their 
causes. 

One source of strife arose by Yang. assuming to be the Holy 
Ghost. Receiving communications from the Heavenly Father 
and Elder Brother, he thus placed himself above the Tien-wang, 
and, it is said by Wilson, 1 " required him to humble himself and 
receive forty lashes " for some misdemeanors complained of by 
the Comforter. The notices of this man which have reached 
us show that he early took a prominent part in the movement, 
and perhaps manipulated " descents of the Heavenly Father," 
like the one referred to above as mentioned in the " Book of 
Declarations " in the case of Chau Sih-nang. a Many, proclama- 
tions were issued in his name on the progress to Nanking, which 
set forth the principles under which the Heavenly Dynasty were 
trying to conquer. Incentives addressed to the patriotic feel- 
ings of the Chinese were mixed up with their obligations to wor- 
ship Shangti, now made known to them as the Great God, our 
Heavenly Father, and security promised to all who submitted. 



1 The " Ever- Victorious Army," Lt.-Col. Gordon's Chinese Campaign, p. 43 

2 J. Milton Mackie, Life of Tai- 
Chap. XXXIV., New York, 1857 



2 J. Milton Mackie, Life of Tai-ping- Wang, Chief of the Chinese Insurrection 



DISSENSIONS AMONG THE TAI-PING LEADEKS. 251 

In one sent forth by him when nearing Nanking, he thus sum- 
marizes the rales which guided the Tai-pings : 

I, the General, in obedience to the royal commands, have put in motion the 
troops for the punishment of the oppressor, and in every place to which I have 
come the enemy, at the first report, have dispersed like scattered rubbish. As 
soon as a city has been captured, I have put to death the rapacious mandarins 
and corrupt magistrates therein, but have not injured a single individual of the 
people, so that all of you may take care of your families and attend to your 
business without alarm and trepidation. I have heard, however, that numbers 
of lawless vagabonds are in the villages, who previous to the arrival of our 
troops take advantage of the disturbed state of the country to defile mens' 
wives and daughters, and burn or plunder the property of honest people. . . . 
I have therefore especially sent a great officer, named Yuen, with some hun- 
dreds of soldiers, to go through the villages, and as soon as he finds these vaga- 
bonds he is commissioned forthwith to decapitate them ; while if the honest 
inhabitants stick up the word shun [' obedient '] over their doors, they will have 
nothing to fear. 1 

Such manifestoes could not reassure the timid population of 
the valley of the Yangtsz', and the carnage of the unresisting 
Manchus in Nanking, Chinkiang, and elsewhere indicated a ruth- 
less license among the followers of the Tien-wang, which made 
them feel that their success carried with it no promise of melio- 
ration. In addition, as the vast spoil obtained from these cities 
and towns up to 1856 was consumed, the outlook of the rebels 
was most discouraging. Among their forces, the disheartened, 
the sick, and the wounded, with the captived and desperate, soon 
died, deserted, or skulked, and their places were filled by forced 
levies. Under these circumstances the dissensions within the 
court at Nanking imperilled the whole cause, and showed the 
incapacity of its leaders in face of their great aim. Yang had 
sunk into a sensual, unscrupulous faction leader who could no 
longer be endured ; by October, 1856, he and all his adherents, 
to the number of twenty thousand, were utterly cut off by "Wei. 
But this latter king speedily met with a like fate. Shih, the 
Assistant King, was at this time in the province of Kiangsi. It 
had become a life struggle with Sin-tsuen, and his removal of the 
four kings resulted in leaving him without any real military 
chief on whose loyalty he could depend. The rumors which 

Bindley, Tai-ping Tien-kwoh, Vol. I., p. 94. 



252 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

reached Shanghai in 1856 of the fierce conflict in the city were 
probably exaggerated by the desire prevalent in that region that 
the parties would go on, like the Midianites in Gideon's time, 
beating down each other till they ended the matter. 

The success of the Tai-pings had encouraged discontented 
leaders in other parts of China to set up their standards of revolt. 
The progress of Shih Ta-kai in Sz'chuen and Kweichau engaged 
the utmost efforts of the provincial rulers to restore peace. In 
Kwangtung a powerful band invested the city, but the opera- 
tions of Governor Yeh, after the departure of Sii Kwang-tsun 
in 1854, were well supported by the gentry. By the middle of 
1855 the rising was quenched in blood. The destruction of 
Fatshan, Shauking, and other large towns, had shown that the 
sole object of the rebels was plunder, though it was thought at 
first that they were Tai-pings. The executions in Canton during 
fourteen months up to August, 1856, were nearly a hundred 
thousand men ; but the loss of life on both sides must be reckoned 
by millions. A band of Cantonese desperadoes seized the 
city of Shanghai in September, 1853, killing the district 
magistrate and some other officials. They retained possession 
till the Chinese New Year, January 27, 1854, leaving the city 
amid flames and carnage, when many of the leaders escaped in 
foreign vessels. 1 None of these men were affiliated with the 
Tai-pings. 

In Formosa and Hainan, as well as in Yunnan and Kansuh, 
the provincial authorities had hard work with their local contin- 
gents to maintain the Emperor's authority. This wretched 
prince was himself fast bound under the sway of Suhshun and 
his miserable coterie, devising means to replenish his coffers by 
issuing iron and paper money, and proposing counters cut out of 
jade stone to take the place of bullion. The national history, 
however, had many notices of precisely such disastrous epochs 
in former times, and the nation's faith in itself was not really 
weakened. 

By 1857 the imperialists had begun to draw close lines about 



•No foreigners here or elsewhere in China were injured designedly during 
all this insurrection. 



THE REBEL SORTIE FROM NANKING. 253 

the rebels, when they were nearly restricted to the river banks 
between Nganking and Nanking, both of which cities were 
blockaded. Two years later the insurgent capital was belea- 
guered, but in its siege the loyalists trusted almost wholly to 
the effects of want and disease, which at last reached such an 
extreme degree (up to 1860) that it was said human flesh was 
sold on the butchers' stalls of Nanking. Their ammunition was 
nearly expended, their numbers were reduced, and their men 
apparently desirous to disperse ; but the indomitable spirit of the 
leader never quailed. He had appointed eleven other wang, or gen- 
erals, called Chung Wang (' Loyal King '), Ying Wang (' Heroic 
King'), Kan Wang (' Shield King'), Ting Wang ('Listening 
King '), etc., whose abilities were quite equal to the old ones. 
As the siege progressed events assumed daily a more threaten- 
ing aspect. Chang Kwo-liang and Ho Chun, two imperialist gen- 
erals, invested the city more and more closely, driving the insur- 
gents to extremity in every direction. The efforts of these men 
were, however, not aggressive in consequence of the war then 
waging with the British and French on the Pei ho. This encour- 
aged the beleaguered garrison to a desperate effort to free them- 
selves, and on May 6, 1860, a well -concerted attack on the 
armies which had for years been intrenched behind outworks 
about the city scattered them in utter disorder. A small body 
of Tai-pings managed to get out toward the north of Kiangsu, 
near the Yellow River. Another body had already (in March) 
carried Hangchau by assault by springing a mine ; as many as 
seventy thousand inhabitants, including the Manchu garrison, 
perished here during the week the city remained in possession of 
the rebels. On their return to Nanking the joint force carried 
all before it, and the needed guns and ammunition fell into 
their hands. The loyalist soldiers also turned against their old 
officers, but the larger part had been killed or dispersed. Chin- 
kiang and Changchau were captured, and Ho Kwei-tsing, the 
governor-general, fled in the most dastardly manner to Suchau, 
without an effort to retrieve his overthrow. Some resistance 
was made at Wusih on the Grand Canal, but Ho Chun was so 
paralyzed by the onslaught that he killed himself, and Suchau 
fell into the hands of Chung Wang with no resistance whatever. 



254 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

It was, nevertheless, burned and pillaged by the cowardly im- 
perialists before thejr left it, Ho Kwei-tsing setting the large 
suburbs on fire to uncover the solid walls. This destruction 
was so unnecessary that the citizens welcomed the Tai-pings, 
for they would at least leave them their houses. "With Suchau 
and Hangchau in their hands, the Kan Wang and Chung Wang 
had control of the great watercourses in the two provinces, and 
their desire now was to obtain foreign steamers to use in re- 
gaining mastery of the Yangtsz' River. The loss of their first 
leaders was by this time admirably supplied to the insurgents by 
these two men, who had had a wider experience than the Tien 
wang himself, while their extraordinary success in dispersing 
their enemies had been to them all an assurance of divine pro- 
tection and approval. 

The populous and fertile region of Kiangnan and Chehkiang 
was wholly in their hands by June, 1860, so far as any organ- 
ized Manchu force could resist them. The destruction of life, 
property, and industry within the three months since their sally 
from Nanking had been unparalleled probably since the Conquest, 
more than two centuries before, and revived the stories told of 
the ruthless acts of Attila and Tamerlane. Shanghai was threat- 
ened in August by a force of less than twenty thousand men 
led by the Chung Wang, and it would have been captured if it 
had not been protected by British and French troops. Many 
villages in the district were destroyed, but the flotilla approach- 
ing from Sungkiang recoiled from a collision with foreigners, 
and the insurgents all retired before September. They, however, 
could now be supplied with munitions of war, and even began 
to enlist foreigners to help them drill and fight. It was an 
anomalous condition of things, possible only in China, that 
while the allied force was marching upon Peking to extort a 
treaty, the same force was encircling the walls of Shanghai, 
burning its suburbs to destroy all cover, and aiding its rulers 
to preserve it to Hienfung — all in order to conquer a trade. It 
was then the moment for the Tai-pings to have moved rapidly 
upon Chihli and tried the gage of battle before the metropolis, 
as soon as possible after Lord Elgin had withdrawn. But they 
had now very few left to them of the kind of troops which 



FOREIGN AID AGAINST THE EEBELS. 255 

threatened the capital in 1853-54, and could not depend on re- 
cruits from Kiangnan in the hour of adversity. 

At this juncture the imperialists began to look toward 
foreigners for aid in restoring their prestige and power by 
employing skill and weapons not to be found among them- 
selves. An American adventurer, Frederick G. Ward, of Salem, 
Mass., proposed to the Intendant Wu to recapture Sungkiang 
from the Tai-pings ; he was repulsed on his first attempt at the 
head of about a hundred foreigners, but succeeded on the second, 
and the imperialists straightway occupied the city. This suc- 
cess, added to the high pay, stimulated many others to join 
him, and General Ward ere long was able to organize a larger 
body of soldiers, to which the name of Chang-shing kiun, or 
' Ever-victorious force,' was given by the Chinese ; it ultimately 
proved to be well applied. Its composition was heterogeneous, 
but the energy, tact, and discipline of the leader, under the 
impulse of an actual struggle with a powerful foe, soon moulded 
it into something like a manageable corps, able to serve as a 
nucleus for training a native army. Foreigners generally looked 
down upon the undertaking, and many of the allied naval and 
military officers regarded it with doubt and dislike. It had 
to prove its character by works, but the successive defeats of 
the insurgents during the year 1862 in Kiangsu and Chehkiang, 
clearly demonstrated the might of its trained men over ten 
times their number of undisciplined braves. 

But we must retrace our steps somewhat. In 1860 the pos- 
session of the best parts of Kiangsu and Chehkiang led the 
Tien Wang to plan the relief of Nganking by advancing on 
Hankow with four separate corps. They were under the leader- 
ship of the Chung Wang, and, so far as the details can be gath- 
ered, manifested a practical generalship hardly to be expected. 
The Ying Wang was to move through Nganhwui from Luchau 
westerly to Hwangchau ; the Attendant King (Shih) was to 
leave Kiangsi and co-operate with the Chung Wang by reach- 
ing the Yangtsz' as near Hankow as possible, and a smaller force 
under the Tu Wang was to recover Hukau at the mouth of 
Poyang Lake and ascend the Great River in boats. The area 
through which this campaign was to be carried on may be un- 



256 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

derstood when we learn that the Chung Wang's march of five 
hundred miles was over the two ranges of mountains on the 
frontiers of Kiangsi, and that of the Ying Wang two hundred 
miles through the plains of Jtfganhwni. This last king did act- 
ually take his force of about eighty thousand men two hundred 
miles to Hwangchau (fifty miles below Hankow) in eleven days, 
but none of his colleagues came to his aid. The experience of 
eight years had quite changed the elements of the contest. 

The people now generally realized that neither life, property, 
nor government was secured under the Tai-pings; the impe- 
rialists had learned how to obtain the co-operation of the pa- 
triotic gentry, and the rank and file of the Tai-pings were by 
this date mostly conquered natives of the same region, as no 
recruits had ever come from Kwangsi. Moreover, the region 
was impoverished, and this involved greater privations to all 
parties. Yet the Chung Wang went from Wuhu south-west 
to Kwangsin, crossed the water-shed into Kiangsi, defeated a 
force at Kienchang, crossed the River Kan near Linkiang, and 
marched north-west to Wuning hien on the River Siu. Here 
he heard of the defeat of Tu Wang, and the non-arrival of 
Shih's force ; and, lest he should be hemmed in himself, as the 
failure of the campaign was evident, he led his army back 
across the province to Kwangsin by September, 1861. The 
particulars of this last great exploit of the Tai-pings are so im- 
perfectly known, that it is impossible to judge of it as a mili- 
tary movement accomplished under enormous difficulties ; but 
the Loyal King must have been a strategist of no mean rank. 

In November, 1861, Kganking succumbed to the imperialists. 
Its defenders and the citizens endured untold sufferings at the 
last, while its victors had an empty shell ; but the river was 
theirs down to Ranking. On his return east, Chung Wang 
moved into Chehkiang and overran all the northern half of 
that province, his men inflicting untold horrors upon the in- 
habitants, whom they killed, burned, and robbed as they listed. 
Ningpo was taken December 9th and held till May 10th, when 
it was recaptured by the allies; foreign trade had not been 
interrupted during this period, and the city suffered less than 
many others. In September the Tai-pings were driven out of 



THE " EVER- VICTORIOUS FORCE." 257 

the valley of the Yung River, but the death of General Ward 
at Tsz'ki deprived the imperialists of an able leader. The 
career of this man had been a strange one, but his success in 
training his men was endorsed by honorable dealing with the 
mandarins, who had reported well of him at Peking. He was 
buried at Sungkiang, where a shrine was erected to his mem- 
ory, and incense is burned before him to this day. 

It was difficult to find a successor, but the command rather 
devolved on his second, an American named Burgevine, who 
was confirmed by the Chinese, but proved to be incapable. He 
was superseded by Holland and Cooke, Englishmen, and in 
April, 1863, the entire command was placed under Colonel 
Peter Gordon, of the British army. During the interval be- 
tween May, 1860, when Ward took Sungkiang, and April 6, 
1863, when Gordon took Fushaii, the best manner of combin- 
ing native and foreign troops was gradually developed as they 
became more and more acquainted with each other and learned 
to respect discipline as an earnest of success. Such a motley 
force has seldom if ever been seen, and the enormous prepon- 
derance of Chinese troops would have perhaps been an element 
of danger had they been left idle for a long time. 

The bravery of the Ever-victorious force in the presence of 
the enemy had gradually won the confidence of the allies, as 
well as the Chinese officials, in whose pay it was ; and when it 
operated in connection with the French and British contingent 
in driving the Tai-pings out of Xingpo prefecture, the real 
worth of Ward's drill was made manifest. The recapture of 
that city by Captain Dew's skilful and brave attack in reply to 
their unprovoked firing at H. M. S. Encounter, brought out the 
bravery of all nationalities, as well as restored the safety of the 
port. An extract from Captain Dew's report will exhibit the 
dreadful results to the common people of this civil war : 

I had known Ningpo in its palmy days, when it boasted itself one of the 
first commercial cities of the Empire ; but now, on this 11th of May, one 
might have fancied that an angel of destruction had been at work in the city 
as in the suburbs. All the latter, with their wealthy hongs and thousands of 
houses, lay levelled ; while in the city itself, once the home of half a million 
of people, no trace or vestige of an inhabitant could be seen. Truly it was a 
city of the dead. The rich and beautiful furniture of the houses had become 



258 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

firewood, or was removed to the walls for the use of soldiers. The canals 
were filled with dead bodies and stagnant filth. The stonework of bridges 
and pavements had been uplifted to strengthen walls and form barricades in 
the streets ; and in temples once the pride of their Buddhist priests, the cha- 
otic remains of gorgeous idols and war gods lay strewn about — their lopped 
limbs showing that they had become the sport of those Christian Tai-pings 
whose chief, the Tien-wang. eight years before at Nanking, had asked Sir 
George Bonham if the Virgin Mary had a pretty sister for him, the King of 
Heaven, to marry ! It has been my good fortune since to assist at the wrest- 
ing of many cities from these Tai-pings, and in them all I found, as at Ningpo, 
that the same devilish hands had been at work — the people expelled from 
their houses and their cities ruined. l 

Yet so speedy was the revival from the ruins, that we are 
told that in one month houses had been refurnished and shops 
opened ; their owners had mostly fled across the river into 
the foreign settlement. A larger force was now organized — 
MM. Le Brethon and Giquel being in charge of a Franco- 
Chinese regiment — and an advance made on Yiiyau, which was 
retaken, and one thousand drilled Chinese left to defend it. 
Tsz'ki, Funghwa, and Shangyii were also cleared of rebels, and 
during the month of March they evacuated the prefect city of 
Shauhing, never again to return to this fertile valley. Their 
inroad had been an unmitigated scourge, for they had now 
given up all pretense of Christianity, and had not the least idea 
of instituting a regular government ; to plunder, kill, and de- 
stroy was their only business. Their sense of danger from the 
hatred of the people whom they had so grievously maltreated 
led them at this time to defend the walled cities with a reckless 
bravery that made their capture more difficult and dangerous. 
This was shown in the siege of Shauhing fu, within whose walls 
about forty thousand Tai-pings were well led by the Shi Wang. 
The possession of cannon enabled them to reply to the balls 
thrown by Captain Dew's artillery, while despair lent energy to 
their resistance ; so that the attack turned into a regular siege 
of a month's duration, when, food and ammunition being ex- 
hausted, they retreated en masse to Hangchau. 

While this success relieved the greater part of Chehkiang 
from the scourge, the failure of the Ever-victorious force to 

The ** Ecer- Victorious Army," p. 102, London, 1868. 



SUCCESSES OF THE FORCE UNDER GORDON. 259 

retake Taitsang and Fushan, under Holland and Brennan, 
had discouraged Governor Li, who had now come into power. 
He applied to General Stavely, who, with a full appreciation of 
the exigencies of the case, and concurrence of Sir Frederick 
Bruce, aided in reorganizing Ward's force and placing Colonei 
Gordon over it with adequate powers. There were five or six 
infantry regiments of about five hundred men each, and a bat- 
tery of artillery ; at times it numbered five thousand men. The 
commissioned officers were all foreigners, and their national 
rivalries were sometimes a source of trouble ; the non commis- 
sioned officers were Chinese, many of them repentant rebels 
or seafaring men from Canton and Fuhkien, promoted for good 
conduct. The uniform was a mixture of native and foreign 
dress, which at first led to the men being ridiculed as ' Imita- 
tion Foreign Devils ; ' after victory, however, had elevated 
their esprit du corps, they became quite proud of the costume. 
In respect to camp equipage, arms, commissariat and ord- 
nance departments, and means of transport, the natives soon 
made themselves familiar with all details; while necessity 
helped their foreign officers rapidly to pick up their language. 
It is recorded, to the credit of this motley force, that " there 
was very little crime and consequently very little punishment ; 
. . as drunkenness was unknown, the services of the pro- 
vost-marshal rarely came into use, except after a capture, 
when the desire for loot was a temptation to absence from the 
ranks." ' 

In addition, the force had a flotilla of four small steamers, 
aided by a variety of native boats to the number of fifty to 
seventy-five. The plain is so intersected by canals that the 
troops could be easier moved by water than land, and these 
boats enabled it to carry out surprises which disconcerted the 
rebels. Wilson well remarks concerning Gordon's force : " Its 
success was owing to its compactness, its completeness, the j 

quickness of its movements, its possession of steamers and good 
artillery, the bravery of its officers, the confidence of its men, 
the inability of the rebels to move large bodies of troops with 

1 Wilson, ibid., p. 132. 



260 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

rapidity, the nature of the country, the almost intuitive per- 
ception of the leader in adapting his operations to the nature 
of the country, and his untiring energy in carrying them out." ' 
The details of this singular troop are worth telling with more 
minuteness than space here allows, for its management will no 
doubt form a precedent in the future ; but the good its remark- 
able chief effected in restoring peace to Kiangsu calls for that 
recognition which skill, tact, and high moral purpose ever de- 
serve. Being formally put in command on March 24, 1863, he 
promptly reinstated the foreign officers belonging to the force, 
paid their dues, and within a few days was in readiness to 
march upon Fushan, a town on the Yangtsz' above Paushan. 
The fall of this place on April 6th led to the capture of Chanzu, 
when preparations were made for besieging Taitsang fu, where 
an army of ten thousand rebels, aided by foreign adventurers, 
presented a formidable undertaking for his force of two thou- 
sand eight hundred men, although supported by a large body 
of imperialists. In its capture (May 2d) the killed and wounded 
numbered one hundred and sixty-two officers and men ; the 
booty obtained was so large that Colonel Gordon led his men 
back to Sungkiang, in order to reorganize them after this ex- 
perience of their conduct. Finding that their former license 
in appropriating the loot thus obtained tended to demoralize 
them all, he accepted the resignations of some of the discon- 
tented officers, and adopted stringent measures to bring the 
others to render military obedience. Consequently, when he 
started for Kiunshan with about three thousand men, he had 
his force in a much better condition. This city occupied an 
important position between Shanghai, Chanzu, Taitsang, and 
other large towns on the east, and Suchau on the west. The 
rebels had set up a cannon foundry within its walls, and from 
it obtained supplies for the last-named city, with which it was 
connected by a causeway. By means of the armed steamer 
Hyson, Colonel Gordon was able to bring up through one of 
the canals a company of three hundred and fifty men and field 
artillery, cutting the causeway and pursuing its defenders, some 

1 Ibid., p. 138. 



ENVIRONMENT OF SUCHAU, 261 

into the town and some toward Suchau, almost to its very 
gates. On the return of the steamer in the night, the com- 
mander found the imperialists engaged with the garrison in a 
sharp contest, in which the foreigners then aided, and com- 
pletely routed the rebel body of nearly eight thousand men. 
Fully four thousand of them were killed outright, and others 
were drowned or cut off by the exasperated peasantry before 
the day was over. This was on May 30th. The captured town 
was made headquarters by its victors, as a more eligible loca- 
tion than Sungkiang, though against the wishes of the native 
officers, who desired to go back there with their booty. The 
loss of men, material, and position to the rebels was very great, 
and Colonel Gordon could now safely turn his whole thoughts 
to the capture of Suchau. 

This city is like Yenice in its approaches by canals ; owing to 
its location it was deemed best, before attempting its capture, to 
reduce certain towns in the vicinity, from which it derived sup- 
plies, so that the Chung Wang should not be able to co-operate 
with its garrison. The district towns of "Wukiang and Kahpu 
were both taken in July with comparatively little loss. This 
rapid reduction of many strong stockades, stone forts, and walled 
towns, with the panic exhibited by the men, proved how useless 
to the rebels the foreigners in their service had been in rendering 
them really formidable enemies, and how incapable the wangs 
had been to appreciate the nature and need of discipline. 
After these places had been occupied, Colonel Gordon found 
his position beset with so many unexpected annoyances, both 
from his rather turbulent and incongruous troops as well as from 
the Chinese authorities, that he went to Shanghai on August 
8th for the purpose of resigning the command. Arriving here, 
however, he ascertained that Burgevine had just gone over to 
the Tai-pings with about three hundred foreigners, and was 
then in Suchau. The power of moral principle, which guided 
the career of the one, was then seen in luminous contrast to its 
lack as shown in the other of these soldiers of fortune. To his 
lasting credit Colonel Gordon decided to return at once to 
Kiunshan, and, in face of the ingratitude of the Chinese and 
jealousy of his officers, to stand by the imperialist cause. He 



262 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

gradually restored his influence over officers and men, ascer- 
tained that Burgevine's position in the Tai-ping army did not 
allow him freedom enough to render his presence dangerous to 
their foes, and began to act aggressively against Suchau by 
taking Patachiau on its southern side in September. 

Emissaries from the foreigners in the city now reported con- 
siderable dissatisfaction with their position, and Colonel Gordon 
was able to arrange in a short time their withdrawal without 
much danger to themselves. It is said that Burgevine even 
then proposed to him to join their forces, seize Suchau, and as 
soon as possible march on Peking w r ith a large army, and do 
to the Manchus what the Manchus had done, two hundred and 
twenty years before, to the Mings. Colonel Gordon's own loy- 
alty was somewhat suspected by the imperialist leaders, but his 
integrity carried him safely through all these temptations to 
swerve from his duty. 

As soon as these mercenaries among the rebels were out of the 
way, operations against Suchau were prosecuted with vigor, so 
that by November 19th the entire city was invested and care- 
fully cut off from communication with the north. The city 
being now hard pushed, the besieging force prepared for a night 
attack upon a breach previously made in the stockade near the 
north-east gate. It was well planned, but the Muh Wang, facile 
princejos among the Tai-ping chiefs in courage and devotion, 
having been informed of it, opened such a destructive fire that 
the Ever- victorious force was defeated with a loss of about two 
hundred officers and men killed and wounded. On the next 
morning, however (November 28th), it was reported that the 
cowardly leaders in the city were plotting against the Muh 
Wang — the only loyal one among their number — and were talk- 
ing of capitulating, using the British chief as their interme- 
diary. 

This rumor proved, indeed, to be so far true, that after some 
further successful operations on the part of Gordon's division, 
the Wangs made overtures to General Ching, himself a forme]* 
rebel commander, but long since returned to the imperial cause 
and now the chief over its forces in Kiangsu. , The Muh Wang 
was publicly assassinated on December 2d by his comrades, 



SURRENDER AND EXECUTION OF ITS GENERALS. 263 

and on the 5th the negotiations had proceeded so far that inter- 
views were held. Colonel Gordon had withdrawn his troops a 
short distance to save the city from pillage, but did not succeed 
in obtaining a donation of two months' pay for their late bravery 
from the parsimonious Li. He therefore proposed to lay down 
his command at three o'clock p.m., and meanwhile went into the 
city to interview the Xa Wang, who told him that everything was 
proceeding in a satisfactory manner. Upon learning this he 
repaired to the house of the murdered Muh Wang in order to 
get his corpse decently buried, but failed, as no one in the place 
would lend him the smallest assistance. While he was thus oc- 
cupied, the rebel wangs and officers had settled as to the terms 
they would accept ; and on reaching his own force, Gordon found 
General Ching there with a donation of one month's pay, which 
his men refused. 

The next morning he returned into the city and was told by 
Ching that the rebel leaders had all been pardoned, and would 
deliver up the city at noon ; they were preparing then to go out. 
Colonel Gordon shortly after started to return to his own camp 
and met the imperialists coming into the east gate in a tumul- 
tuous manner, prepared for slaughter and pillage. He there- 
fore went back to the Xa Wang's house to guard it, but found 
the establishment already quite gutted ; he, however, met the 
Wang's uncle and went with him to protect the females of the 
family at the latters residence. Here he was detained by 
several hundred armed rebels, who would neither let him go 
nor send a message by his interpreter till the next morning 
(December 7th), when they permitted him to leave for his 
boat, then waiting at the south gate ; narrowly escaping, on his 
way thither, an attack from the imperialists, he reached his 
bodyguard at daybreak, and with them was able to prevent 
any more soldiers entering the city. His preservation amid such 
conflicting forces was providential, but his indignation was great 
when he learned that Governor Li had beheaded the eight 
rebel leaders the day before. It seems that they had demanded 
conditions quite inadmissible in respect to the control of the 
thirty thousand men under their orders, and were cut off for 
their insolent contumacy. Another account, published at 



264 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Shanghai in 1871, states that nearly twenty chiefs were exe« 
cuted, and about two thousand privates. 

As Colonel Gordon felt that his good name was compromised 
by this cruelty, he threw up his command until he could confer 
with his superiors. On the 29th a reply came to Li Hung- 
chang from Prince Kung, highly praising all who had been 
engaged in taking Suchau, and ordering him to send the leader 
of the Ever- victorious force a medal and ten thousand taels— 
both of which he declined. The posture of affairs soon became 
embarrassing to all parties. The rebellion was not suppressed ; 
the cities in rebel hands would soon gather the desperate men 
escaped from Suchau ; Colonel Gordon alone could lead his 
troops to victory ; and all his past bravery and skill might be 
lost. He therefore resumed his command, and presently re- 
commenced operations by leading his men against Ihing hien, 
west of Suchau. 

Concerning this wretched business of the Suchau slaughter, 
much was said both in the foreign communities in China and 
later in England. Mr. Wilson, in his book compiled largely 
from Colonel Gordon's notes on this campaign, discusses the 
question with as great fairness as precision, and concludes — as 
must every well-wisher of China with him — that it was in every 
way fortunate, both for his reputation and the cause to which 
he had lent himself, that this heroic man returned to his thank- 
less task. Summing up the arguments of the Chinese and the 
various attendant circumstances that brought about this execu- 
tion, Mr. Wilson points to Li's not unnatural desire after re- 
venge for his brother's murder by the rebels before Taitsang ; 
to the army still under control of the wangs ; to the almost 
absolute certainty of massacre of those imperialists who had 
already entered the city should he refuse compliance with their 
demands ; as also to the impossibility of arresting these chiefs 
without an alarm of treachery spreading among their troops 
within the walls, and thus giving them time to close the gates, 
cutting off the imperial soldiers inside the city from those who 
were without. " Li was in a very difficult and critical position," 
he says, "which imperatively demanded sudden, unpremedi- 
tated action ; and though, no doubt, it would have been more 



COLONEL GORDON'S FURTHER OPERATIONS. 265 

honorable for him to have made the wangs prisoners, he cannot 
in the circumstances be with justice severely censured for hav- 
ing ordered the Tai-ping chiefs who were in his power, but who 
defied his authority, to be immediately killed. It is also cer- 
tain that Colonel Gordon need not have been in a hurry to con- 
sider himself as at all responsible for this almost necessary act, 
because in a letter to him (among his correspondence relating 
to these affairs) from the Futai [Li], dated November 2, 18G3, 
I find the following noteworthy passage, which shows that the 
governor did not wish Gordon to interfere at all in regard to 
the capitulation of the Suchau chiefs : ' With respect to Moh 
Wang and other rebel leaders' proposal, I am quite satisfied 
that you have determined in no way to interfere. Let Ching 
look after their treacherous and cunning management.'" 1 

On reaching thing, the dreadful effects of the struggle going 
on around Gordon's force were seen, and more than reconciled 
him to do all he could to bring it to an end. Utter destitution 
prevailed in and out of the town ; people were feeding on dead 
bodies, and ready to perish from exposure while waiting for a 
comrade to die. The town of Liyang was surrendered on his 
approach, and its inhabitants, twenty thousand in number, sup- 
plied with a little food. From this place to Ivintan proved to 
be a slow and irksome march, owing to the shallow water in 
the canal and the bad weather. On March 21st an attack was 
made on this strong post by breaching the walls ; but it resulted 
in a defeat, the loss of more than a hundred officers and men, 
and a severe wound which Colonel Gordon received in his leg 
— oddly enough the only injury he sustained, though frequently 
compelled to lead his men in person to a charge. Next day he 
retired, in order, to Liyang, but hearing that the son of the 
Chung Wang had retaken Fushan he started with a thousand 
men and some artillery for Wusih, which the rebels had left. 
The operations in this region during the next few weeks con- 
clusively proved the desperate condition of the rebels, but a hope- 
less cause seemed often but to increase their bravery in defend- 
ing what strongholds were left them. At the same time a 

'Wilson, The " Ever-Victorious Army," p. 204. 



266 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

body of Franco-Chinese was operating, in connection with Gen- 
eral Ching on the south of Suchau, against Kiahing fn, a large 
city on the Grand Canal, held by the Ting Wang. This posi- 
tion was taken and its defenders put to the sword on March 
20th, but with the very serious loss of General Ching, one of 
the ablest generals in the Chinese army. Hangchau, the capi- 
tal of Chehkiang, capitulated the next day, and this was soon 
followed by the reduction of the entire province and dispersion 
of the rebels among the hills. 

Colonel Gordon had recovered from his wound so as to lead 
an attack on Waisu April 6th, which town fell on the 11th, 
when most of its defenders were killed by the peasantry as they 
attempted to escape. His force was also much weakened, and 
needed to be recruited. With about three thousand in all, he 
now w T ent to aid Governor Li in reducing Changchau fn, and 
invested it on the 25th. The entire besieging force numbered 
over ten thousand ; and as the rebels were twice as many, on 
the whole well provided, and knew that no mercy would be 
shown, their resistance was stubborn. Several attacks were re- 
pulsed with no small loss to Gordon's force, so that slower 
methods of approach were resorted to till a general assault was 
planned on May 11th, when it succumbed. Only fifteen hun- 
dred rebels were slain, and the greater part of the prisoners 
were allowed to go home, the Kwangsi men alone being exe- 
cuted. With this capture ended the operations of the Ever- 
victorious force and its brave leader. Nanking was now the 
only strong place held by the Tai-pings, and there was nothing 
for that army to do there, as Tsang Kwoh-fan, the general- 
issimo of the imperial armies, had ample means for its capture. 
Colonel Gordon, therefore, in conjunction with Governor Li, 
dissolved this notable division ; the latter rewarded its officers 
and men with liberal gratuities, and sent the natives home. 
During its existence of about four years down to June 1, 1864, 
nearly fifty places had been taken (twenty-three of them by 
Gordon), and its higher discipline had served to elevate the 
morale of the imperialists who operated with them. It perhaps 
owed its greatest triumph to the high-toned uprightness of its 
Christian chief, which impressed all who served with him. The 



THE EVER-VICTORIOUS FORCE DISBANDED. 207 

Emperor conferred on him the highest military rank of ti-tuh, or 
4 Captain-General,' and a yellow jacket (ma-kwa) and other uni- 
forms, to indicate the sense of his achievements. Sir Frederick 
Bruce admirably summed up his character in a letter to Earl 
Russell when sending the imperial rescript : 

Hongkong, July 12, 1864. 
My Lord, 

I enclose a translation of a despatch from Prince Kung containing the de- 
cree published by the Emperor, acknowledging the services of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gordon, R. E., and requesting that her Majesty's government be 
pleased to recognize them. This step has been spontaneously taken. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Gordon well deserves her Majesty's favor ; for, independently 
of the skill and courage he has shown, his disinterestedness has elevated our 
national character in the eyes of the Chinese. Not only has he refused any 
pecuniary reward, but he has spent more than his pay in contributing to the 
comfort of the officers who served under him, and in assuaging the distress of 
the starving population whom he relieved from the yoke of their oppressors. 
Indeed, the feeling that impelled him to resume operations after the fall of 
Suchow was one of the purest humanity. He sought to save the people of 
the districts that had been recovered from a repetition of the misery entailed 
upon them by this cruel civil war. I have, etc., 

F. W. A. Bruce. 

The foreign merchants at Shanghai expressed their sense of 
his conduct in a letter dated November 24th, written on the 
eve of his return to England, in which they truly remark : " In 
a position of unequalled difficulty, and surrounded by complica- 
tions of every possible nature, you have succeeded in offering 
to the eyes of the Chinese nation, no less by your loyal and 
disinterested line of action than by your conspicuous gallantry 
and talent for organization and command, the example of a 
foreign officer serving the government of this country with 
honorable fidelity and undeviating self-respect." * 

Such men are not only the choice jewels of their own nation 
(and England may justly be proud to reckon this son among 

1 " The rapidity with which the long-descended hostility of the Chinese 
government became exchanged for relations of at least outward friendship, 
must be ascribed altogether to the existence of the Tai-ping Rebellion, without 
whose pressure as an auxiliary we might have crushed, but never conciliated 
the distrustful statesmen at Peking. " — Fraser 's Magazine, Vol. LXXI.,p. 145, 
February, 1865. 



268 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

her worthies), but leave behind them an example, as in the case 
of Colonel Gordon, which elevates Christianity itself in the 
eyes of the Chinese, and will remain a legacy for good to them 
through coming years. 1 

After the dissolution of the Ever-victorious force, its leader 
visited Nganking and Nanking to see the governor-genera], 
Tsang Kwoh-f an, and his brother, who were directing opera- 
tions against the rebels, in order to propose some improvements 
in their future employment of foreign soldiers and military 
appliances. They listened with respect, and took notes of im- 
portant suggestions — knowing at the same time that their sub- 
ordinates were unable to comprehend or adopt many such 
innovations. The work before Nanking indicated the industry 
of its besiegers in the miles of walls connecting one hundred 
and forty mud forts in their circumvallations, and in various 
mines leading under the city walls. The Tai-pings at that 
date seldom appeared on the walls, and had recently sent out 
three thousand women and children to be fed by their enemies, 
proof enough of their distressed condition. The only general 
capable of relieving the Tien Wang was the Chung Wang, 
whose army remained on the southern districts of Kiangsu, 
while he himself was in the city with the Kan Wang (Hung 
Jin), now the trusted agent of his half-brother. All egress 
from the doomed city was stopped by June 1st, when the ex- 
plosion of mines and bursting of shells forewarned its deluded 
defenders of their fate. Of the last days of their leader no 
authentic account has been given, and the declaration of the 
Chung Wang in his autobiography, that he poisoned himself 
on June 30th, " owing to his anxiety and trouble of. mind," is 
probably true. His body was buried behind his palace by one 
of his wives, and afterward dug up by the imperialists. 

On July 19, 1864, the wall was breached by the explosion of 
forty thousand pounds of powder in a mine, and the Chung 
Wang, faithful to the last, defended until midnight the Tien 
Wang's family from the imperialists. He and the Kan Wang 



1 Compare further Col. C. C. Chesney's Essays on Modern Military Biography 
(from the Edinburgh Review), pp. 163-213, London, 1874. 



FALL OF NANKING. 269 

then escorted Hung Fu-tien — a lad of sixteen, who had suc- 
ceeded to the throne of Great Peace three weeks before — with 
a thousand followers, a short distance beyond the city. The 
three leaders now became separated, but all were ultimately 
captured and executed. The Chung Wang, during his captivity 
before death, wrote an account of his own life, which fully 
maintains the high estimate previously formed of his character 
from his public acts. 1 He was the solitary ornament of the 
whole movement during the fourteen years of its independent 
existence, and his enemies would have done well to have spared 
him. More than seven thousand Tai-pings were put to death 
in Nanking, the total number found there being hardly over 
twenty thousand, of whom probably very few were southern 
Chinese — this element having gradually disappeared. 

After the recapture of Nanking, two small bodies of rebels 
remained in Chehkiang. The largest of them, under the Tow 
Wang, held Huchau fu, and made a desperate resistance until 
a large force, provided with artillery, compelled them to evacu- 
ate. During this siege the sanguinary conduct of the Tai- 
pings showed the natural result of their reckless course since 
their last escape from Nanking; the narrative of an escaped 
Irishman, who had been compelled to serve them in Huchau 
for some months, is terrible enough : " All offences received 
one punishment — death. I saw one hundred and sixty men 
beheaded, as I understood, for absence from parade ; two boys 
were beheaded for smoking ; all prisoners of war were executed ; 
spies, or people accused as such, were tied with their hands be- 
hind their backs to a stake, brushwood put around them, and 
they burned to death." The rebel force numbered nearly a 
hundred thousand men, and their vigorous defence was con- 
tinued for a fortnight, till on August 14th their last stockade 
was carried by the imperialists, and about half their number 
made good their escape to the neighboring hills, leaving the 
usual scene of desolation behind them. This body undertook 
to march south through the hilly regions between Kiangsi and 



1 The Autobiography of the Chung- Wang, translated from the Chinese by 
W. T. Lay, Shanghai, 1865. 



270 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Chelikiang. The best disciplined portion was led by the Shi 
Wang, who had joined it with his men from the former prov- 
ince, and arranged an attack on Kwangsin, near which they 
were defeated. The remainder managed to march across the 
intervening districts south-westerly to the city of Changchan, 
near Amoy, where they intrenched themselves till the next 
spring, subsisting on the supplies found in it and the neighbor- 
hood. The Shi Wang and Kan Wang then left it April 16th, 
in two bodies, unable to resist the disciplined force of eight 
thousand men brought from the north. Feeling that their 
days were numbered, they seem to have scrupled at nothing to 
show their savagery — as, for example, when they slaughtered 
sixteen hundred imperialists who had surrendered on a promise 
of safe-conduct. No mercy was therefore shown them by the 
inhabitants ; at Chanping in Kwangtung they even cut down 
their growing rice in order to prevent the rebels using it. The 
last straggling relics of the Tai-ping Heavenly King's adherents 
were thus gradually destroyed, and his ill-advised enterprise 
brought to an end. 

Fifteen years had elapsed since he had set up his standard of 
revolt in Kwangsi, and now there was nothing to show as a re- 
turn for the awful carnage and misery that had ensued from his 
efforts. No new ideas concerning God or his redemption for 
mankind had been set forth or illustrated by the teachings or 
practices of the Tai-ping leader or any of his followers, nor did 
they ever take any practical measures to call in foreign aid to 
assist, in developing even the Christianity they professed. True 
the Kan Wang called Mr. Roberts to Nanking, but instead of 
consulting with him as to the establishment of schools, opening 
chapels, preparing books, or organizing any kind of religious or 
benevolent work to further the welfare of his adherents, the 
Tien Wang did not even grant an interview to the missionary, 
who, on his part, was glad to escape with his life to Shanghai. 

If this rebellion practically exhibited no religious truth to 
the educated mind of China, it was not for lack of publications 
setting forth the beliefs its leaders had drawn from the Bible, 
or for laws sanctioned by severe penalties, both of which were 
scattered through the land. Dr. Medhurst's careful translations 



END OF THE TAI-PING REBELLION. 271 

of these tracts has preserved them, so that the entire disregard 
manifested by the new sect of their plainest injunctions may be 
at once seen. 1 The strong expectations of the friends of China 
for its regeneration through the success of Hung Siu-tsuen, 
would not have been indulged if they had better known the 
inner workings of his own mind and the flagitious conduct of 
liis lieutenants. 

In his political aspirations the Tien Wang entertained no new 
principle of government, for he knew nothing of other lands, 
their jurisprudence or their polity, and wisely enough held his 
followers to such legislation as they were familiar with. They 
all probably expected to alter affairs to their liking when they 
had settled in Peking. But if this mysterious iconoclast had 
really any ideas above those of an enthusiast like Thomas Miin- 
zer and the Anabaptists in the early days of the Reformation — 
whose course and end offers many parallels to his own — he 
must have lamented his folly as he reviewed its results to his 
country. The once peaceful and populous parts of the nine 
great provinces through which his hordes passed have hardly 
yet begun to be restored to their previous condition. Ruined 
cities, desolated towns, and heaps of rubbish still mark their 
course from Kwangsi to Tientsin, a distance of two thousand 
miles, the efforts at restoration only making the contrast more 
apparent. Their presence was an unmitigated scourge, attended 
by nothing but disaster from beginning to end, without the 
least effort on their part to rebuild what had been destroyed, to 
protect what was left, or to repay what had been stolen. Wild 
beasts roamed at large over the land after their departure, and 
made their dens in the deserted towns ; the pheasant's whirr re- 
sounded where the hum of busy populations had ceased, and 
weeds or jungle covered the ground once tilled with patient in- 
dustry. Besides millions upon millions of taels irrecoverably 
lost and destroyed, and the misery, sickness, and starvation 

1 Pamphlets issued by tlie Chinese Insurgents at Nan- King ; to which is added 
a history of the Kwangsi Rebellion, etc., etc., compiled by W. H. Medhurst, 
Senr., Shanghai, 1853. Compare R. J. Forrest in Journal iV. C. Br. R. A. 
Soc, No. IV., December, 1867, pp. 187 ff. The China Mail for February 2, 
1854. 



272 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

which were endured by the survivors, it has been estimated by 
foreigners living at Shanghai that, during the whole period 
from 1851 to 1865, fully twenty millions of human beings were 
destroyed in connection with the Tai-ping Rebellion. 1 



1 The most complete authorities on this conflict are files of the North China 
Herald (Shanghai) and the China Mail (Hongkong) during the years from 1858 
to 1869 ; a careful summary of these has been made by M. Cordier in his Bib- 
liotheca Sinica, pp. 273-281, which will be useful alone to those who can gain 
access to these newspapers. The number of articles on various phases of the 
rebellion contained in English and American magazines is exceedingly numer- 
ous, and can be readily found by reference to Poole's Index. Among these 
compare especially the London Quarterly, Vol. 112, for October, 1862; Fraser's 
Magazine, Vol. 71, February, 1865 ; Blackwood's, Vol. 10Q» pp. 604 and 683 ; W. 
Sargent in the North American Review, Vol. 79, July, 1854, p. 158. See also 
the various Blue Books relating to China ; Capt. Fishbourne, Impressions of 
China and the Present Revolution, London, 1855 ; Callery and Yvan, L 1 Insur- 
rection en Chine, Paris, 1853 — translated into English, London, 1853 ; Charles 
Macfarlane, The Chinese Revolution, London, 1853 ; T. T. Meadows, The C'hi- 
iiese and their Rebellions, London, 1856 ; J. M. Mackie, Life of Tai-ping Wang, 
N. Y., 1857; Commander Lindesay Brine, Narrative of the Rise and Progress 
of the Taeping Rebellion in China, London, 1862; "Lin-le," Ti-Ping Tien- 
kwoh, the History of tlie Ti-Ping Revolution, London, 1866— a rather untrust- 
worthy record ; Sir T. F. Wade in the Slianghai Miscellany, No. I. ; Richtho- 
fen, Letter on the Province of Shensi. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SECOND ANGLO-CHINESE WAR. 

The particulars given in the last chapter respecting the Tai- 
ping Rebellion did not include those details connected with 
foreign intercourse during the same period which have had 
such important results on the Chinese people and government. 
It is a notable index of the vigor and self-poise of both, that 
during those thirteen terrible years, the mass of inhabitants in 
the ten eastern provinces never lost confidence in their own 
government or its ability to subdue the rebels ; while the lead- 
ing officers at Peking and in all those provinces at no time ex- 
pressed doubt as to the loyalty of their countrymen when left 
free to act. The narrative of foreign intercourse is now re- 
sumed from the year 1849, when the British authorities waived 
the right of insisting upon their admission into the city of 
Canton according to the terms of the convention with Kiying 
in 1847. The conduct of the Cantonese, in view of the forci- 
ble entrance of English troops into their city, is an interesting 
exhibition of their manner of arousing enthusiasm and raising 
funds and volunteers to cope with an emergency. The series 
of papers found in Vol. XVIII. of the Chinese Repository well 
illustrates the curious mixture of a sense of wrong and deep con- 
cern in public affairs, combined with profound ignorance and 
inaptitude as to the best means for attaining their object. 

A candid examination of the real meaning of the Chinese 
texts of the four earlier treaties makes clear the fact that there 
were some grounds for their refusal ; but more attractive than 
this appears the study of an address from the gentry of Can- 
ton, sent upon the same occasion, to Governor Bonham at Hong- 
kong, dissuading him from attempting the entry. Their con- 



274 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

duct was naturally regarded by the British as seditious, and of 
these many urged their authorities to vindicate the national 
honor and force a way over the walls into the city. The prac- 
tice of an unwonted approach toward self-government which 
this popular movement in defence of their metropolis gave the 
citizens, was of real service to them in the year 1855, when it 
was beleaguered by the rebels, since they had learned how to use 
their powers and resources. One result of their fancied victory 
over the British at this time was the erection of six stone jpai- 
lau, or honorary portals, in various parts of the city and sub- 
urbs, on each of which was engraved the sentence, " Reverently 
to commemorate glory conferred," together with a copy of 
the edict ordering their establishment, and a list of the wards 
and villages which furnished soldiers during their time of need. 1 
The outcome of the working of treaty provisions between 
foreigners and natives at the five opened ports during the ten 
years up to 1853, had been as satisfactory to both sides 
as could have been reasonably expected. The influx of for- 
eigners had more than doubled their numbers ; and as almost 
none of them could talk the Chinese language, it happened that 
natives of Canton became their brokers and compradores — 
rather more by reason of speaking pig eon- English than by their 
wealth or capacity. The vicious plan of marking off a separate 
plat of land for the residence of foreigners at each port was 
adopted, and their development tended to build up concessions, 
or settlements, which were to be governed by the various na- 
tionalities. In doing this the local authorities vacated their 
rights over their own territory, and these settlements have since 
become the germs of foreign cities, if not colonies.. The Brit- 
ish and French consuls at Shanghai claimed territorial jurisdic- 
tion over all who settled within the limits of their allotted dis- 
tricts, and carried this assumption so far as to exercise authority 
over the natives against their own rulers. The British erelong 
gave up this pernicious system, which had no legal basis by 
treaty or conquest, and yielded the entire internal management 

1 The one placed near the southern gate became a target for the British gun- 
ners in October, 1856, its demolition, most unfortunately, involving the de- 
struction and burning of millions of Chinese books in the shops on that street 



INFLUENCE OF TEEATIES ON THE CHINESE. 275 

of all consular communities to those foreigners which composed 
them. There were not enough residents elsewhere to raise this 
question of local government to any importance, but the prog- 
ress of the Tai-pings and the rapid growth of Shanghai as a 
centre of trade for the Yangtsz' basin, compelled the prepara- 
tion and adoption of a set of land regulations in order to insti- 
tute some means of governing the thousands of foreigners who 
had flocked thither. George Balfour, the first British consul 
in that port, had sanctioned a series of rules in 1845, which 
purported to be drawn up by the taatai, or intendant of cir- 
cuit, and which worked well enough in peaceful times. 

In the year 1853, however, the civil war altered the condi- 
tions, when certain Cantonese rebels captured Shanghai and 
killed some of its magistrates, driving others into the British 
settlement, to which ground the custom-house was shortly after- 
ward removed. The collector of the port, W u Kien-chang, had 
formerly been a hong merchant at Canton, and he willingly 
entered into an arrangement for putting the collection of for- 
eign duties into the hands of a commission until order was re- 
stored. The presence there of the British, American, and 
French ministers facilitated this arrangement. Their respec- 
tive consuls, B. Alcock, R. C. Murphy, and B. Edan, accord- 
ingly met Wu on June 29, 1854, and agreed to a set of cus- 
tom-house rules which in reality transferred the collection of 
duties into the hands of foreigners. The first ride contains the 
reason for this remarkable step in advance of all former posi- 
tions, and has served to perpetuate the employment of foreign- 
ers at all the open ports, and maintain the foreign inspecto- 
rate : 

Rule I.— The chief difficulty experienced by the superintendent of cus- 
toms having consisted in the impossibility of obtaining custom-house officials 
with the necessary qualifications as to probity, vigilance, and knowledge of 
foreign languages, required for the enforcement of a close observance of treaty 
and custom-house regulations, the only adequate remedy appears to be in the 
introduction of a foreign element into the custom-house establishment, in the 
persons of foreigners carefully selected and appointed by the tautai, who 
shall supply the deficiency complained of, and give him efficient and trust- 
worthy instruments wherewith to work. ' 



1 McLane's Correspondence, 1858. Senate Ex. Doc., No. 28, p. 154. 



276 HISTOPwY OF CHINA. 

In carrying out the new arrangement, each consul nominated 
one man to the intendant, viz., T. F. Wade for the British, L. 
Carr for the American, and Arthur Smith for the French 
member of the board of inspectors, who together were to take 
charge of the new department. The chief responsibility for its 
organization fell on Mr. Wade, inasmuch as he alone of this 
number was familiar with the Chinese language, and possessed 
other qualifications fitting him for the post. He, however, re- 
signed within a year, and the intendant appointed H. jS". Lay, 
a clerk in the British consulate, who completed the service or- 
ganization. This proceeding shows fc the readiness with which 
the Chinese will shirk their own duties and functions in gov- 
ernment employ, and illustrates as well many peculiar traits in 
their character. 

The city of Shanghai had been in possession of a Cantonese 
chief, Liu Tsz'-tsai, and his rabble since September 7, 1853, and 
the position of foreigners at that port in the presence of such a 
body of outlaws developed new points of international law. If 
the foreigners had all been of one nationality the consul would 
probably have assumed temporary control of the city and port 
to assure their safety ; but in this case a naval force under each 
flag lying in the river guaranteed ample protection of life and 
property. As soon as the city was occupied the difficulty of 
restraining the disorderly elements, as well among foreigners 
;as natives, became painfully apparent to their rulers. Foreign 
rowdies eagerly purchased the plunder brought to them and 
supplied arms and other things in return — a line of conduct 
very naturally irritating to the officials in charge of the siege 
and inclining them at once toward coercive measures. 

The fact that the French settlement adjoined the moat on 
the north side of the city made its authorities desirous to dis- 
lodge the brigands, which they essayed to do January 6, 1S55, 
by joining the imperialists in breaking the walls ; they were 
repulsed, however, with a loss of fifteen men killed and thirty- 
seven wounded, out of a rank and file numbering two hundred 
and fifty. Another joint attack, undertaken a month later, was 
likewise unsuccessful, though the attempt seems to have fright- 
ened the force within the walls, since on the night of February 



WORK OF THE REBELS AT SHANGHAI AND AMOY. 277 

16th they retired, leaving the place in ruins. A like cordiality 
was nevertheless not always maintained between native and for- 
eign soldiers, for in the previous year (April 4, 1854) occurred a 
collision with the imperialists, in consequence of their near ap- 
proach to the foreign quarter, in which over three hundred Chi- 
nese soldiers were killed by the foreigners who landed to resist 
them. This untoward rencontre did not, however, interrupt 
amicable relations with the intendant, and was followed by con- 
sular notifications that whoever entered the service of the com- 
batants in or out of the city would forfeit all protection. 
These notices were nevertheless soon disregarded as the strug- 
gle went on, for the temptation to enjoy a lawless life was too 
strong for hundreds of sailors then found in that port. It was 
an anomalous state of affairs, and the exigency led to some acts 
of violence by consuls in control of men-of-war. 

The city of Ainoy had been captured by insurgents on May 
18, 1852, but no contravention occurred ; the number of for- 
eigners residing at this port was small, while the opposite island 
of Kulang su afforded a refuge beyond the range of missiles. 
The city was regained by the imperialists before a year had 
passed. The districts north of Canton, whence Hung Siu-tsuen 
and many of his adherents originated, began the same year to 
send forth their bands of robbers to pillage the province. These 
gangs had really no affinity with the Tai-pings, either in doc- 
trine or plans, and none of them succeeded in gaining even a 
temporary success. When the booty was expended they usually 
quarrelled, and the imperialists destroyed them in detail. Every 
part of the province was at one time or another the scene of 
savage conflict between these contestants, and it was soon shown 
that no regenerating principle was involved on either side. The 
confidence of the educated and wealthy classes in the just cause 
and final success of their rulers was shown in raising men and 
money for the public service and organizing bodies of local 
police ; but the want of a sagacious leader to plan and execute, 
so that all this material and action should not be frittered away, 
was painfully apparent. 

In the capture of Nanking by Tai-pings, the restless leaders 
of sedition in Kwangtung saw their opportunity, and gathered 



278 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their bands of freebooters in the southern prefectures. In June, 

1854, the district town of Tungkwan near the Bogue was taken, 
the rich manufacturing mart of Fuhshan (or Fat-shan) near 
Canton fell a month later, followed by that of Shunteh, San- 
shui, and other lesser places, throwing the southern part of the 
province into a state of anarchy. The theory of the Chinese 
government, that if the capital is preserved the whole province 
is loyal, and its officers can use its revenue, enabled Governor- 
Geueral Yeh to concert measures to repress these disorders. 
The City of Rams was environed during August by large bodies 
of insurgents, whose wants were supplied from Fuhshan. In 
this crisis about one thousand five hundred houses abutting 
outside the city walls were destroyed, and the ward police 
strengthened for the better protection of their neighborhoods 
against incendiaries. In all these proceedings the foreigners 
at Canton were never consulted or referred to by the officials, 
but their merchant steamers kept the Pearl River open to the 
sea, while their men-of-war lying off the factories proved a 
safeguard to the crowded city. The rebels had occupied a post 
near Whampoa, and their gunboats prowled through every 
creek in the delta, burning, destroying, capturing, and murder- 
ing without restraint. They would be followed by a band of 
imperialists, whose excesses were sometimes even more dread- 
ful than those of their enemies. So terrible was the plight of 
the wretched countrymen that the headmen of ninety-six vil- 
lages near Fuhshan formed a league and armed their people 
to keep soldiers from either side from entering their precincts. 
In September, at a general meeting of the gentry of Canton, 
a proposal to save the city by asking foreign aid was approved 
by Yeh, but happily the project failed of fulfilment and only 
resulted in showing them how much better was a reliance upon 
their own resources. The news of this discussion led Chin Ilien- 
liang, the rebel leader near Whampoa, to circulate proposals 
among the foreigners asking them to help him in capturing the 
city and promising as reward a portion of the island of Honan. 
The condition of the people at this time was sad and desperate 
indeed, and their only remed}^ was to arm in self-defence, in 
doing which they found out how small a proportion of the in- 



THE INSURRECTION IIST KWANGTUNG. 279 

habitants was disloyal. Ko quarter was given on either side, 
and the carnage was appalling whenever victory remained with 
the imperialists. During this year the emigration to California 
and Australia became larger than ever before, while the coolie 
trade waxed flourishing, owing to the multitudes thrown out of 
employment who were eager in accepting the offers of the 
brokers to depart from the country and escape the evils they 
saw everywhere about them. The terrors of famine, fighting, 
and plundering paralyzed all industry and trade, and enabled 
one to better understand similar scenes described by ancient his- 
torians as occurring in Western Asia. 

The exhaustion and desperation consequent on these events 
had almost demoralized society in and around Canton, which 
was overcrowded with refugees, raising food to famine prices. 
It was creditable to these poor and sickly people that their in- 
flux produced no other fear than that of a higher rate of liv- 
ing — none of pestilence or plunder, even in the extremity of 
their sufferings. In Fuhshan, fifteen miles away, no one was 
safe. The rebels had depleted its resources, killed its gentry, 
and oppressed the townsfolk until a quarrel broke out in their 
camp, and they departed about the season of Christmas, leaving 
the whole a smoking ruin. One of the insurgent practices con- 
sisted in driving great numbers of people into squares and there 
shooting them down by cannon placed in the approaching streets, 
while the houses around them were burning. The flames could 
be seen for two or three days from Canton, and it was estimated 
that during this conflict fully two hundred thousand human 
beings perished. The town was the manufacturing centre for the 
foreign trade, where silks, satins, shawls, paper, fire-crackers, 
pottery, and other staples were made, and their workmen resided. 
After this dreadful act the insurgents grew more and more des- 
perate, feeling that they could not hold out much longer for 
want of booty and supplies to keep their men together. By 
March the force of fifteen thousand men inside the city was 
ready, and on the 6th it went quietly down to attack the fort 
below Whampoa. The onset and resistance were most deter- 
mined : before the position succumbed, some twenty-five thou- 
sand men must have perished by battle or flood ; the rebel 



280 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

leader escaped toward Hiangshan. The insurrection was, how* 
ever, scotched, and its victors celebrated their triumph three 
days later in the city to a grateful and applauding concourse. 
When the city of Shauking, west of Canton, was retaken in 
May, its victors boasted that thirty thousand rebels were drowned 
or beheaded. 

Notwithstanding these reverses the insurgents did not yet dis- 
appear, but maintained themselves along the watercourses in 
large flotillas during many months. The Portuguese and British 
also fitted out expeditions to pursue the pirates, as the same men 
were now called, destroying them and their haunts at Kulan 
Lantao, and elsewhere. In rooting out these land and sea 
brigands, the merciless character of the people was made mani- 
fest ; every one convicted of rebellion was straightway executed 
by the authorities. At Canton, where prisoners were received 
from all such districts, the executions were on a terribly huge 
scale, as many as seven or eight hundred persons being beheaded 
in a single day. A count taken at the city gate whence they 
all issued on their way to the field of blood near the river, re- 
vealed the fact that fully eighty thousand were thus executed 
in the year 1855. This did not include thousands who commit- 
ted suicide in places provided for them near their homes, from 
which their relatives could take their bodies to the family tomb. 
As might be expected, other thousands left the province for the 
north, or escaped into distant lands as coolies and emigrants. 

Public attention abroad was at this time so engrossed with 
the greater rebellion going on along the Yangtsz' River that the 
horrors of that in Ivwangtung were overlooked. There were 
many foreigners at Whampoa and Hongkong who sided with 
the leading brigands, reported their successes in the newspapers, 
and supplied them with munitions of war. The inefficiency of 
a foreign consul to restrain his countrymen thus flagrantly vio- 
lating all their treaty obligations toward China, showed most 
conclusively how easy it is for the stronger party in such cases 
to demand their rights, and shirk their duties if it suits their 
convenience. 

During the year 1856 affairs between the Chinese govern- 
ment and foreign powers became more and more hampered, while 



RELATIONS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND CHINA. 281 

all attempts to arrange difficulties as they arose were defeated 
by the obstinate refusal of Teh Ming-chin, the governor-general 
at Canton, to meet any foreign minister. He intrenched him- 
self behind the city gates, and would do nothing. Sir John 
J3o wring, the British plenipotentiary and governor of Hong- 
kong, had most reason to be dissatisfied with this conduct, inas- 
much as tli ere were many questions which could have been easily 
arranged in a personal interview. It was ascertained from some 
documents 2 afterward found in Yeh's office that this seclusion was 
a part of the system devised at Peking to maintain a complete 
isolation and keep the dreaded foreigners at a distance. ]So 
course could be more likely to bring upon the government the 
evils it feared, and at the same time show more conclusively the 
ignorant and inapt character of those who carried it on. This 
state of things could not long continue when such powerful 
agencies were at work along the coast to disorganize legal trade 
and thwart the utmost efforts of all officials to restrain the 
reckless conduct of their subjects. The ten years now elapsed 
since the opening of the five ports had involved the Chinese in 
more complications, miseries, and disasters than had been known 
since the Manchu conquest ; nevertheless, neither rebellion nor 
foreign complications seem to have impressed their lessons upon 
the proud bureaucracy in Peking, which was as unwilling to 
remedy as unable to appreciate the real nature of the difficulties 
that beset the country. 

In the struggle between nations, as between individuals, the 
agony and weakness of one side becomes the opportunity of the 
other ; and these conditions were now open to the British, who 
speedily found their excuse for further demands. In order to 
develop the trade of the free port of Hongkong, its laws en- 
couraged all classes of shipping to resort thither, by removing 
all charges on vessels and granting licenses, with but few and 
unimportant restrictions, to Chinese craft to cany on trade 
under the British flag. This freedom had developed an enor- 
mous smuggling trade, especially in opium, which the Chinese 
revenue service was unable to restrain or unwilling to legalize. 

1 Blue Book, 1857. 



282 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

These boats cruised wherever they might find a trade to invite 
or reward them, wholly indifferent to their own government, 
which could exercise no adequate control over them, and kept 
from the last excesses only on account of the risk of losing 
their cargoes. To the evils of smuggling were added the worse 
acts and dangers of kidnapping natives to supply baracoons at 
Macao. The Portuguese had many of these lorchas to carry on 
their commerce, and gradually a set of desperate men had so 
far engrossed them in acts of daring and pillage that honest 
native trade about any part of the coast south of Shanghai 
became almost impossible except under their convoy. The two 
free ports of Macao and Hongkong naturally became their re- 
sorts, where they all took on the aspect of legitimate traders, 
which, indeed, most of them were — save under great tempta- 
tions. 

It was not surprising that Chinese rulers should confound 
these two classes of vessels, nor, from the traders' side, was it a 
wonder that their crews should use the flag which gave them 
the greatest protection when beyond foreign inspection and 
jurisdiction. Few nations have ever been subjected to such 
continuous and prolonged irritation in respect to its commercial 
regulations as was the Canton government from those two 
alien communities during the ten years ending with 1856 ; few 
nations, on the other hand, have acted more unwisely in exer- 
tions toward peace and the removal of such difficulties than 
did the unspeakable Governor-General Yeh. That the inevita- 
ble collision between the Chinese and British was now at hand, 
follows almost as a matter of course, when to our knowledge 
of the commissioner's character we add Mr. Justin McCarthy's 
very appropriate estimate of the two Englishmen in whose 
hands well-nigh all British affairs in China were vested : " Mr. 
Consul Parkes," says he, " was fussy. Sir John Bowring was 
a man of considerable ability, but . . . full of self-conceit, 
and without any very clear idea of political principles on the 
large scale."' 

Early in the morning of October 8th, two boat-loads of 

} A History of Our Own Times, Chap. XXX. 



THE CASE OF THE LORCHA ARROW. 283 

Chinese sailors, with their officers, put off from a large war-junk, 
boarded the lorcha Arrow lying at anchor in the river before 
Canton, pinioned and carried away twelve of the fourteen na- 
tives who composed her crew, and added to this unexpected 
" act of violence," as Mr. Parkes stated it, " the significant in- 
sult of hauling down the British ensign." One Kennedy, a 
young Irishman who is described as a very respectable man of 
his class, was master of the lorcha, but chanced at the time to 
be on another boat lying in the immediate neighborhood of his 
own, and could in consequence offer no resistance. It is proba- 
ble, judging from testimony given at the British consulate, that 
the hauling down of the flag was a mere bit of wantonness on 
the part of the junk's officer upon his finding that no foreigner 
was on board, and the offence might readily have been followed 
by an apology had the command of negotiations been in any 
other hands than those of Yeh. The Arrow was owned by a 
Chinese, Fong A-ming, her nominal master being engaged by 
Mr. Block, the Danish consul at Hongkong ; his vessel was not, 
however, entitled to protection, inasmuch as her British regis- 
ter had expired by its own limitation eleven days before the 
episode in Canton River, and the lorcha was already forfeited 
to the crown. 1 Her papers were then at the consulate, and it 
was contended by Mr. Parkes that under Clause X. of the 
ordinance she retained a right to protection ; a mere quibble, 
since the cause refers to the vessel when upon a voyage, and the 
Arrow had confessedly remained about the ports of Macao and 
Canton during a month. 

Consul Parkes, after ascertaining the facts connected with 
this high-handed outrage, pushed off to the war-junk — which 
remained the while quietly at anchor — to claim the captured 
sailors and " explain to the officers, if it were possible that they 
had acted in error, the gross insult and violation of national 



1 Sir John Bowring indeed conceded that " the Arrow had no right to hoist 
the British flag," but alleged that the Chinese had no knowledge of the expiry 
of the license, and that this ignorance deprived them of the legal value of 
the truth. He quoted, moreover, Article IX. of the Supplementary Treaty, 
requiring that u all Chinese malfaisants in British ships shall he claimed 
through the British authorities." 



284 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

rights which they had committed." ' This was in vain. Among 
the men was a notorious pirate, he was told, and their orders 
were that the suspected crew should be sent to the governor 
for examination. Yeh stoutly upheld the act of his subordi- 
nate, and affirmed that the lorcha had no right to fly the Brit- 
ish flag, disclaiming, however, any intention of molesting law- 
ful traders under the emblem. Naturally enough, he would 
not yield the right of jurisdiction over his own subjects, and in 
doing this was asserting precisely what Great Britain and every 
other nation on the globe knew to be the first privilege of an in- 
dependent government. The case was not unlike that much-dis- 
cussed affair of the American Commodore Wilkes, who boarded 
the Trent in 1863 and captured Mason and Slidell — performing 
a right-enough action, but in a wrong and hasty fashion. 

In his reply to Mr. Parkes, Yeh declares that he has held an 
examination of the sailors and finds that three of them were 
implicated in a piracy of the preceding month on St. John's 
Island, that the officers had good reasons for seizing these men, 
that the remaining nine shall be sent back to their vessel ; which 
he straightway does, but they are as promptly returned by the 
consul because the entire crew is not given up. Sir John Bow- 
ring now demands, through his representative at Canton (1), " an 
apology for what has taken place, and an assurance that the 
British flag shall in future be respected ; " (2) " that all pro- 
ceedings against Chinese offenders on board British vessels 
must take place according to the conditions of the treaty ; " 2 
in case of refusal the consul is to concert with the naval au- 
thorities the measures necessary for enforcing redress. This 
threat extracted from the governor-general a promise that 
u hereafter Chinese officers will on no account, without reason, 
seize and take into custody the people belonging to foreign 
lorchas;" adding very properly, "but when Chinese subjects 
build for themselves vessels, foreigners should not sell registers 
to them, for if this be done, it will occasion confusion between 
native and foreign ships, and render it difficult to distinguish 

1 Blue Book : Papers relating to the Proceedings of her Majesty's Naval Forces 
at Canton, p. 1. 

* Blue Book, Ibid. , p. 12. 



OPENING OF HOSTILITIES. 285 

between them." ' Twelve days afterward (October 22d) the 
entire crew were returned, but once more refused by Mr. 
Parkes, ostensibly because the apology was not sent with them 
— and this the commissioner could not offer either in justice to 
his government or to the cause of truth. 

Ensconced behind the walls of Canton city, Yeh resolved to 
stand firm on his rights as he understood them, even should the 
doing so involve the lives and property of thousands of his 
countrymen. To all foreigners in China this affair was in- 
timately connected with most important possibilities and con- 
sequences: the inviolability of national flags, protection to 
every one whom they covered, personal intercourse with Chi- 
nese officers, maintenance of treaty rights. In upholding these 
the British drew to their side the good wishes of all intelligent 
observers for their success in arms, however unhappy their ex- 
cuse for a resort to such means might be. One more w r ord 
from Mr. McCarthy before leaving the initial episode of this 
war. " The truth is," he sums up, " that there has seldom been 
so flagrant and so inexcusable an example of hio-h-handed law- 
lessness in the dealings of a strong with a weak nation," 2 but 
like many another conflict where strength and justice have been 
ranged on opposite sides, the latter was speedily pushed to the 
wall. The incident of the Arrow appeared a trifling one ; nev- 
ertheless on so slight a hinge turned the future welfare and 
progress of the Chinese people in their intercourse with other 
nations, a hinge which, opening outward, unclosed the door for 
all parties to learn the truth respecting the countries of each, 
and, in the end, agree upon the only grounds on which a bene- 
ficial and intelligent intercourse could be maintained. 

It is hardly necessary to recount in detail the steps by which 
Governor Bowring and Admiral Seymour vainly attempted to 
bring Yeh to their terms. " Acknowledge that you are in the 
wrong," was their ultimatum, " by merely sending the three 

l lbid., v . 15. 

2 History of Our Own Times, Vol. III., Chap. XXX. Lord Elgin in Lis jour- 
nal refers frankly enough to " that wretched question of the Arrow, which is 
a scandal to us, and is so considered, I have reason to know, hy all except the 
few who are personally compromised." — Letters and Journals of Lord Elgin, 
edited by T. Walrond, p. 209. 



286 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

suspects to the consulate, and ask that they be returned on 
charge of piracy." The long-continued national policy of ex- 
clusion could not, however, be so easily overthrown ; its reduc- 
tion must be by force. The seizure of a military junk was the 
first act of the British, then the capture of the Barrier forts, 
followed by that of all others on the south of Canton, and lastly 
breaching the city wall opposite Yen's yamun. This was en- 
tered by Admiral Seymour with a small party of marines. 

Sir John Bowring had already made the demand that the city 
gates should be opened to them in accordance with the agree- 
ment entered into ten years before between Governor Davis 
and Kiying, and expresses his gratification to the consul that now 
one great object of hostile action had been satisfactorily accom- 
plished — an object which Mr. Parkes declares was clearly based 
on treaty rights. However, they did not see Yeh, who resorted 
to all manner of petty annoyances, the evils of which mostly fell 
on his own people, without in the least advancing his cause. 

On ISTovember 15th, to the complications with the English 
was added a quarrel with the Americans, whose boats had 
been twice fired into and one man killed by the Chinese officers 
in command of the Barrier forts. Commodore J. Armstrong 
had under his command the San Jacinto, Portsmouth, and Le- 
vant, then lying at Whampoa. He ordered the two latter to go 
as near to these forts as possible, and directed Captain A. H. 
Foote of the Portsmouth to destroy them all. Foote accord- 
ingly organized a large force and attacked them on the 16th, 
20th, and 21st, till they were reduced and occupied. The re- 
sistance of the Chinese on this occasion was unusually brave 
and prolonged, the admirable position of the forts enabling 
each of them to lend assistance to the others. On the part of 
the Americans, seven w r ere killed and twenty-two wounded ; 
perhaps three hundred Chinese were put hors de combat; the 
guns in the forts (one hundred and seventy-six in all) were de- 
stroyed, and the sea-walls demolished with powder found in 
the magazines. 1 This skirmish is the onlv passage of arms ever 

1 One brass gun of eight-inch, calibre was twenty-two feet five inches long ; 
the entire armament of these forts was superior in equipment to anything 
before seen in China. 



COLLISION WITH THE AMERICANS. 287 

engaged in by American and Chinese forces— one which Yeh 
seemed to regard as of slight moment, and for which he cared 
neither to apologize nor sympathize. His unexampled indif- 
ference in referring to the affair less than two days after the 
demolishment of his forts J was met by an equal frankness on 
the part of Dr. Parker, who at once resumed correspondence 
with the commissioner, and, content with the practical lesson 
just administered, said no more about "apologies and guaran- 
tees." This episode is interesting chiefly as an example of the 
American course regarding an insult to the national flag, as con- 
trasted with the English dealing with an injury not very differ- 
ent either in nature or degree. 

Kelations between Great Britain and China continued in this 
constrained position until the opening of another year, the con- 
flict now being almost wholly restricted to unimportant colli- 
sions with village braves on land and voluminous discussions 
with the governor-general on paper. In November the French 
minister withdrew his legation from Canton, there being by 
that time neither French citizens nor interests to watch over. 
Principal among the events during this interval was the burn- 
ing of the foreign factories by order of Yeh, December 14th. 
They were fired in the night and were entirely consumed with 
all their contents, as well, too, as the contiguous portion of the 
suburbs. The offer of thirty taels head-money for every English- 
man killed or captured resulted in a few endeavors on the part 
of natives, whereby they kidnapped or slew two or three sea- 
men when separated from their ships. These attempts at 
guerilla warfare were so promptly met and rewarded on the 
part of the English, by wholesale punishment of offending 
villages, as to cause little annoyance after the lesson of certain 
retribution had been taken to heart by the Chinese. More im- 
portant than all these was a dastardly attempt, on January 11, 

1 "There is no matter of strife between our respective nations. Henceforth 
let the fashion of the flag which American ships employ be clearly defined, 
and inform me what it is beforehand. This will be the verification of the 
friendly relations which exist between the two countries." — Hoppin, Life of 
Admiral Foote, pp. 110-140. Correspondence of Mc Lane and Parker, Senate 
Document No. 22, December 20, 1858, pp. 1019 ff. Blue Book, p. 137. 



288 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

1857, to poison the foreigners at Hongkong, by putting arsenic 
in the bread supplied from a Chinese baker. This, it was after- 
ward ascertained, was at the instigation of certain officials on 
the mainland, but fortunately even here their villany was 
foiled, owing to the overdose contained in the dough. It 
ought to be stated, in passing, that such acts are not common 
in China, and, in this case, that the baker's employers were pro- 
ven entirely innocent. 

During much of this time Canton had been reminded of the 
presence of the British force by intermittent bombarding of the 
city from guns in Dutch Folly Fort. Sir John Bowring had 
demanded an interview with Yeh in November, but received a 
prompt refusal, followed by a still more vigorous carrying on of 
the war in his peculiar fashion, and by raising the price on 
English heads. Admiral Seymour had now less reason for re- 
maining within the Bogue, as all trade was at an end. Hun- 
dreds of foreigners had already been thrown out of employ- 
ment, their property destroyed, their plans broken up, and in a 
few instances their lives lost in consequence of this quarrel. 
After holding an intrenched position around the church and 
barracks of the factories for the space of a month, the useless- 
ness of this effort when sustained by so paltry a force seems t< 
have moved the admiral (January 14, 1857) to retire from 
Canton, falling back upon Macao Fort until reinforcements 
should arrive from India. Before leaving the site of the fac- 
tories, however, he burned down the warehouses of those na- 
tive merchants in the vicinity, their inmates having previously 
been warned to leave them. These buildings and their contents 
were private property, and the intrenched position in the fac- 
tory garden was not endangered by their remaining. The 
leaders of the British operations had hitherto professed to spare 
private property ; and even if the performance was meant as a 
parting menace to the governor-general — " to show him," as 
Mr. Parkes remarked, " that we can burn too " — it was one of 
the few acts, on their side, which has left a stigma upon the 
English name in China. The hostile proceedings of the Chi- 
nese authorities had been both petty and useless, but as Ad- 
miral Seymour's force was inadequate to take and hold Canton, 



PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN ENGLAND. 289 

a more serious cannonading of the imperial quarters might have 
been a more honorable method of taking retribution for out- 
rages, and better calculated than this counter-incendiarism to in- 
crease respect for British arms and civilization. 

The news of these operations in China excited great interest 
and speculation in Europe, inasmuch as all its nations were more 
or less interested in the China trade. Parliament was the scene 
of animated argument as to the policy of Sir John Bo wring and 
his colleagues ; the moral, commercial, and political features of 
British intercourse with China were discussed most thoroughly 
in all their bearings, the arguments of both parties in the de- 
bate being drawn from the same despatches. One remarkable 
series of papers was presented to the House of Lords in Feb- 
ruary, 1857, entitled Correspondence respecting Insults in China, 
"containing the particulars of twenty-eight outrages committed 
by the Chinese upon British and other foreigners between the 
years 1842 and 1856." This publication was intended appa- 
rently to show how impracticable the Chinese authorities were 
in all their intercourse with foreigners, and its contents became 
to members of the House so many arguments for placing this 
intercourse on a better basis at the imperial court. To those 
who had watched since 1842 the results of treaty stipulations 
upon the people of China and their rulers, it was plain that no 
satisfactory political intercourse could be hoped for so long as 
the governor-general at Canton had the power of concealing 
and misrepresenting to his government everything that hap- 
pened between foreign representatives and himself. Neverthe- 
less such a series of papers was but one side of the insults 
endured. As long as the British government upheld the 
opium trade, and did nothing to restrain smuggling and' the 
awful atrocities of the coolie traffic at Mac u o, which were fill- 
ing the ears of all the world with their sho >king tales, these 
few " outrages " seem very petty if put forward as a defence 
of Lord Palmerston's going to war on account of the lorcha 
Arrow. 

In the vote upon the question of employing force in China, 
the better sense of Parliament protested against the policy 
which had directed recent events ; but the Premier knew his 



290 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

countrymen, and in forty days from the dissolution (March 
21st) England returned him a House of Commons strongly 
in his favor. He now decided to complete what had been 
wanting in the treaty of Nanking, and obtain a residence for 
a British minister at Peking. The governments of France. 
Russia, and the United States were invited to co-operate with 
England so far as they deemed proper, and their united in- 
terests were those of Christendom. No well-wisher to China 
could patiently look forward to a continuation of the past tan- 
talizing semblance of official intercourse at Canton, and the 
varied experience of twelve years at other ports proved that the 
Chinese people did not sympathize in this policy. The French 
Emperor had a special grievance against H. I. M. Hienfung, on 
account of the judicial murder of Pere Chapdelaine, a mis- 
sionary in Kwangsi province, who had been tortured and be- 
headed at Si-lin hien on February 29, 1856, by order of the 
district magistrate. This outrage was in direct violation of 
the rescript of 184A, and some atonement and apology were 
justly demanded. How totally unconscious of all these discus- 
sions and plans were Hienfung and his counsellors at Peking, 
may be guessed from their blind fright during subsequent 
events, while their inability to devise a course of action cor- 
responded to their childish ignorance of their position and 
duties. 

A powerful though unspoken reflection among these rulers 
must not here be overlooked as a secret motive in deciding 
many of their short-sighted counsels. Remembering the way 
in which their ancestors had captured the Empire over two cen- 
turies before, they felt that great risk was run in admitting the 
barbarians to the capital now, since the same game would prob- 
ably be played over again. The visits of foreign ministers to 
the insurgents at Nanking, and their readiness at Canton to 
quarrel about so trifling a point as pulling down a flag and car- 
rying off a few natives under its protection, all indicated, in 
their opinion, nothing short of conquest and spoliation. With 
such tremendous power arrayed against so weak an adversary, 
they knew well enough what would ensue. Their miserable 
policy of isolation had left them more helpless in their igno- 



BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE OF CANTON. 291 

ranee than diminished in their resources, and they had to pay 
dearly for their instruction. 

The appointments of Lord Elgin and Baron Gros as pleni- 
potentiaries for Great Britain and France were most fortunate 
as a selection of eminent diplomatists and clear-headed men. 
The two ambassadors entered into most cordial relations as 
soon as the land and sea forces placed at their disposal arrived 
on the Chinese coast. Lord Elgin reached Hongkong in July, 
but learning the state of affairs in that region, and that no ad- 
vances had been made from Peking to settle the dispute, con- 
cluded to take the Shannon to Calcutta, to the assistance of Lord 
Canning against the mutineers ; from this place he proposed 
to proceed in the cold weather, when the force detailed for China 
would all be ready. Returning to Hongkong by September 
20th, he was obliged to tarry yet another month before the last 
of his reinforcements, or those of the French, had joined him. 
By the end of November the American minister, "W. B. Reed, 
in the frigate Minnesota, and the Russian admiral, Count 
Poutiatine, in the gunboat Amerika, had likewise come. 

Early in December, after a refusal on the part of Yeh of their 
ultimatum, the allied forces advanced up the Canton River. An 
extract from one of Lord Elgin's private letters illustrates admi- 
rably the spirit in which he entered upon the work he had been 
chosen to do. " December 22d. — On the afternoon of the 20th 
I got into a gunboat with Commodore Elliot, and went a short 
way up toward the Barrier forts, which were last winter de- 
stroyed by the Americans. When we reached this point, all 
was so quiet that we determined to go on, and we actually 
steamed past the city of Canton, along the whole front, within 
pistol-shot of the town. A line of English men-of-war are now 
anchored there in front of the town. I never felt so ashamed 
of myself in my life, and Elliot remarked that the trip seemed 
to have made me sad. There we were, accumulating the means 
of destruction under the very eyes and within the reach of a 
population of about one million people, against whom these 
means of destruction were to be employed ! ' Yes,' I said to 
Elliot, 'I am sad, because, when I look at that town, I feel that 
I am earning for myself a place in the Litany, immediately 



292 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

after "plague, pestilence, and famine."' I believe, however, 
that, as far as I am concerned, it was impossible for me to do 
otherwise than as I have done. . . . When we steamed up 
to Canton and saw the rich alluvial banks covered with the lux- 
urious evidences of unrivalled industry and natural fertility 
combined — beyond them barren uplands sprinkled with a soil 
of reddish tint which gave them the appearance of heather 
slopes in the Highlands, and beyond these again the White 
Cloud mountain range standing out bold and blue in the clear 
sunshine — I thought bitterly of those who, for the most selfish 
objects, are trampling under foot this ancient civilization." ' 

On the 27th the British and French, about six thousand in 
all, landed on the east bank a short distance below the walls. 
During the whole of the following day a furious bombardment 
was opened upon the city from the ships, driving thousands of 
the frightened natives into the western suburbs and destroying 
considerable portions of the town. By three o'clock of the 29th 
the city was in the hands of the foreigners — almost exactly the 
two hundred and seventh anniversary of its capture and entire 
reduction by the Manchus (November, 1650). The victory was 
not a brilliant one, since scarcely any one could be found with 
whom to fight ; three or four forts to be entered, the wall scaled, 
a loss of one hundred and ten in killed and wounded to the vic- 
tors, perhaps five times as many to the vanquished — this was all. 
Immediately upon their entry within the hitherto forbidden 
city the chiefs were forced to turn their energy upon their own 
troops and prevent them from bullying and looting the helpless 
Chinese. 

Governor-General Yeh was, after some little search, found 
and captured while attempting an escape from his yamun, 2 and 
within twenty-four hours the lieutenant-governor, Tartar gen- 
eral, and all others in high authority came into possession of the 
invaders. Yeh was carried forthwith on board H. B. M. S. 
Inflexible, a wise step which deprived him of further power of 

1 Letters and Journals, p. 212. 

2 Some very curious documents were found among his archives illustrating 
the character both of the man and his government. See Oliphant, Elgin's Mis- 
sion to China, Vol. I., Chap. VIII. Reed's Correspondence, 1858, pp. 443-488. 




fes: 












'ootoy 



.Ttatufc? Miles- 



Jl 




CITY OF CANTON AND ADJACENT ISLANDS. 



294 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

resistance and misrepresentation, and left the plenipotentiaries 
free to arrange some method of temporary government for the 
city. This was a difficult problem, chiefly owing to the lack of 
competent interpreters, but rendered more so by the natural ir- 
ritation of the conquered people at the losses they had sustained, 
the flight of the local officers, and the alarming extent of rob- 
bery by natives, somewhat countenanced by foreign soldiers. 
The skill and tact of Lord Elgin were never better shown than 
in the construction out of such incongruous materials of a mixed 
government whose subsequent easy working abundantly proved 
the master mind of the builder. 1 The two Manchus, Governor 
Pihkwei and the commandant of the garrison — called also the 
Tartar general — were now brought forward to assist in saving 
their capital from destruction and to form with the allies a joint 
tribunal. Pihkwei became legally (by Yen's capture) the gov- 
ernor-general of the Liang Kwang, and his functions in that 
capacity were not interfered with ; those of his colleague had 
always been restricted within the city walls. On January 9th 
they were installed by Lord Elgin and Baron Gros with all pos- 
sible ceremony as rulers of the city, under the surveillance of 
three foreigners, Colonel Iiolloway and Consul Harry Parkes 
for the British, and Captain Martineau for the French. This 
commission had its headquarters in the same extensive yamun 
with Pihkwei, in whom happily were combined some estimable 
qualities for managing the difficult post he filled. The'orderly 
habits of the literati and traders in and around Canton afforded 
a guaranty that no seditious proceedings would be countenanced 
against this joint authority if it gave them the security they had 
asked from the allies. A force of marines and the. Fifty-ninth 
Regiment were quartered on Pagoda Hill, on the north side of 
the city, and ere long the commandant's yamun was cleared of 
its rubbish and put in order for the commission, leaving the 
other for Pihkwei. The allied chiefs deemed it wisest to at- 
tempt to govern as little in detail as possible, and their commis- 
sioners found enough to do in adjusting complaints brought by 

1 "You may imagine," he writes, "what it is to undertake to govern some 
millions of people when we have in all two or three people who understand 
the language! I never had so difficult a matter to arrange." 



JOINT GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. 295 

the Chinese against their own men. The Cantonese did not fail 
to contrast the considerate treatment they received from their 
foreign captors with the carnage and utter ruin which would 
have followed the occupation of the city by the Tai-pings or 
other insurgents, and during the whole period quietly submitted. 
The greater part of the responsible labor came upon Mr. Parkes, 
because of his ability to talk Chinese, but before many months 
he had taught many natives how to assist in carrying out the 
necessary details. He showed much skill in circumventing the 
designs of the discontented officials at Fuhshan, giving Fihkwei 
all the native criminals to judge, restraining the thievery or 
cruelty of the foreign police, and sending out proclamations for 
the guidance and admonition of the people. 1 

The kindness shown by Lord Elgin after the capture of Can- 
ton infused itself into the minds of those working with and 
under him, and the newly installed governor soon recovered his 
composure as he found himself in possession of his own digni- 
ties and power. The local and provincial officers under him 
kept themselves at Fuhshan, now recovering from its destruc- 
tion of three years before. By the end of January affairs were 
put in order, the blockade was taken off the port, foreign mer- 
chants returned and settled in the warehouses still unharmed 
on Honam, while the native dealers reopened their shops in the 
vicinity. 3 Sixteen months had elapsed since the affair of the 
Arrow, and every one felt that a new day had begun to dawn 
on the relations of China with other lands. 3 Among the papers 

1 Blue Book: Lord Elgin's Correspondence, July 15, 1859, Despatches Nos. 88, 
94, 108, and 128. Oliphant, Elgin's Mission to China, Vol. I., p. 170. 

- Oddly enough, among the most earnest appeals for the restoration of com- 
merce came one from Pihkwei himself, who wrote to Lord Elgin : ' ' The 
eagerness with which merchants will devote themselves to gain, if the trade 
be now thrown well open, will increase manifold the good understanding be- 
tween our nations, and the step will thus, at the same time, enhance your 
excellency's reputation." — Blue Book, January 24, 1858. 

3 The letters of G. W. Cooke, the Times' correspondent (London, Routledge, 
1858), contain a fairly complete account of the proceedings of the allies at 
Canton ; his conversations with Governor-General Yeh on the way to Calcutta 
are less valuable Compare an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes (l e juillet, 
1859), by C. Lavallee, Un Historiographs de la Presse anglaise dans la guerre de 
Chine. 



296 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

taken in Teh's yainun were the ratified copies of the treaties 
between China and Great Britain, France, and the United States, 
carefully preserved there, it was said, by directions from Peking-, 
in order to serve for reference in case of dispute as to the text. 
It was, however, one of the indexes proving the desire of the 
Emperor to keep himself aloof from personal contact with 
foreigners. 

The allied chiefs, early in the month of February, proposed 
to their American and Russian coadjutors to join them in 
laying their demands before the Peking Court, and affording 
it one more opportunity to amicably settle the pending diffi- 
culties by sending an officer to Shanghai with full powers 
for that end. Both Russians and Americans were cordially in 
unison with the allies, and their several despatches addressed 
to Yii, the first member of the Nui IToh, or 'Inner Council,' 
at Peking, were taken up to Shanghai and thence to Suchau, 
where Ho Kwei-tsing received and forwarded them before the 
end of February. These four letters simultaneously sent to 
the secluded court at Peking contained nothing which could 
alarm its members ; but such was the ignorance of the highest 
officers there, that they knew not what to do — ostrich-like, 
hiding their heads from the approaching danger, simply de- 
clining to answer any unpleasant communication, hoping 
thereby to put far off the evil day. Their isolation would re- 
main if left to themselves, and to have sent Klying again to 
the south would only have cherished their stupid pride and 
worked their subjects ultimate injury. Their old-time policy 
of absolute non-intercourse lay like some great frigate sunk 
athwart the mouth of a river; the obstacle once removed, 
nothing remained to prevent the vast and populous regions 
beyond the barrier from an active and profitable communion 
with the whole world. They could no longer be left in statu 
quo, and few can find fault w T ith the plan proposed to solve their 
difficulties — a plan which brought the four most powerful na- 
tions of Christendom in joint consent to set themselves on a 
fair and advantageous footing with the most ancient and popu- 
lous nation of Asia. To those who admit the direct government 
of the Almighty Puler in ordering the policy of nations in accord 



ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES TOWARD PEKING. 297 

with His wise plans, this simultaneous approach to Peking will 
always be deemed as one of the waymarks of human progress. 

The letters presented to the Emperor ' form in their topics 
and tone a pleasant contrast to the communications in past 
years. That of the Russian minister was peculiar in bringing 
forward the desirableness of r llowing the profession of Chris- 
tianity to all natives desirous of embracing it ; but this point 
was made the subject of an address by the British missionaries 
at Ningpo and Shanghai to Lord Elgin, whose reply was a 
happy exposition of the dangers and difficulties connected with 
the toleration of Christianity by a government ignorant of its 
precepts. The imperial replies to these advances were, as 
every one expected, in the strain of non jtosswmus. Lord Elgin 
returned his copy to Ho Kwei-tsing at Suchau, and enclosed 
therewith another despatch to Yii, in which he announced his 
intention to proceed to Taku, w T here he w r ould await the arrival 
of a commissioner qualified to treat upon the points in dispute. 

The force designed to accompany the allied chiefs was gather- 
ing at Shanghai, and by the middle of April most of the ships 
and transports had anchored off the Pci ho, together with the 
American frigates Minnesota and Mississippi and the Russian 
gunboat Amerika, having the legations of those nations on 
board. Nothing could be more dreary than the aspect of the 
rendezvous at this season. The ships were obliged to anchor 
about eight miles from shore, which was level, and w T ould have 
been invisible if it had not been for the forts at the entrance of 
the river. The dim, hazy horizon was lurid with the rays of 
the sun shining through the dust that came in clouds from the 
plains of Mongolia and Chihli. Th? turbid w r aters were often 
lashed into foam by the conflicting forces of tides and winds 
which acted on it from every quarter, and kept the gulf in a 
turmoil. ~No native boats ventured out to traffic, as would have 
been the case in the south, and the only signs of life were the 
gunboats and launches running in and out of the river, or the 
barges passing from ship to ship. Added to other discommodi- 

1 These are all given in the correspondence of Mr. Reed, printed by the 
Senate— Despatch No. 9, Ex. Document No. 30, March 13, 1860, pp. 122-183. 



298 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ties, were occasional blasts of hot air which swept over the 
water, charged with fine dust that settled on the decks and rig- 
eriner, and insinuated itself into the dress and faces in an un- 
comfortable manner. 

As usual the Chinese had done nothing. The increasing 
number and size of the ships which were anchored off the Pei ho 
had, however, been duly reported at Peking, and the Russian 
admiral had received a reply to his announcement of arrival. 
On April 23d communications were addressed by the four 
ministers to Yu-ching at Peking, and on the 26th replies came 
from Tan Ting-siang, governor-general of Chihli, informing 
them that he, with Tsunglun and Wn, had been deputed to 
" receive their complaints and investigate and manage." The 
governor-general was not empowered to settle upon the terms 
of a treaty, but he desired to have a personal conference to 
learn what was demanded. Upon the day appointed the Rus- 
sian and American ministers met Tan at the Taku forts (April 
30th) at separate hours, when they learned that he had not 
been invested with " full powers," like those granted to Kiying 
and llipu in 1842, but had authority to discuss all matters pre- 
paratory to signing a treaty. The truth was that they were 
quite ignorant of the important questions raised at Canton ; but 
while willing to discuss them, they were equally set on keeping 
the foreigners away from the capital. Here the allied chiefs 
and their two colleagues took issue. The former held out for 
commissioners to be sent with full powers ; but the latter deem- 
ing that the governor-general had adequate authority, accord- 
ingly presented him with the main points of their demands and 
afterward with the drafts of their treaties. The negotiations 
were delayed by the difficulties of the entrance, but they af- 
forded a needed instruction to these conceited and ignorant 
men, who were thus enabled at their leisure to prepare for the 
struggle. Xot only were the officers themselves brought face 
to face with their dreaded visitors, and made to perceive the 
folly of resisting the armaments at their command, but with 
the democratic habits usual in Chinese courts, the hundreds of 
attendants present at the conferences heard all that passed. 

Ere the non-belligerent powers had completed their nego- 



CAPTURE OF THE TAKU FORTS. 299 

tiations, the allies turned over theirs into the hands of the 
two admirals, MM. Seymour and Rigault de Genouilly. These 
advanced up the river on May 20th, forcing the slight boom 
across the stream, and capturing all the forts on both banks, 
with all their stores. Comparatively few Chinese were killed, 
and their defence of the forts was creditable to their cour- 
age and skill. All the troops iled or were driven from their 
intrenched camps as far as Taku town, and the other de- 
fences, stockades, and iire-rafts having been destroyed, the 
gunboats proceeded to Tientsin. The losses by shot on the 
part of the Allies were unhappily doubled by the explosion 
of a powder magazine in a fort as a party of Frenchmen en- 
tered. The news that the foreigners had forced the defences 
at the mouth of the Pei ho was soon spread through the towns 
along its banks, and myriads of unarmed people flocked to the 
shore to see the gun boats, whose smoke and masts towering 
above the low land indicated their presence to the amazed in- 
habitants. 

A house having been prepared at Tientsin for the allied 
chiefs, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros reached the city at daylight 
on May 30th, followed by the other tw r o ministers, all of them 
having come up during the night without mishap or oppo- 
sition. The inhabitants of the city were highly excited at 
the presence of the vessels and those of whom they had heard 
such dreadful stories, but their curiosity and fear kept them 
quiet and civil, and they were content with lining the shores in 
dense crowds, to gaze and talk. The general ignorance of each 
other's language did not prevent a constant intercourse with 
the citizens, all the more agreeable after the confinement on 
board ship. One old man was found managing a ferry-boat, 
who remembered Lord Amherst's visit in 1816. After his in- 
quiries as to the meaning of the flags on board the ships had 
been answered, he exclaimed, " How easily you and we could 
get along if you but understood our language " — to which the 
crowd around reechoed their hearty assent. 

Two higher commissioners now appeared on the scene of ac- 
tion, Kweiliang and Hwashana, who superseded the discom- 
fited Tan, Tsunglun, and Wu, and presented their cards as 



300 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

having been invested with full powers to treat. Xegotiations 
were opened with them, and thus, after months of delay, the 
plan which Yeh had so foolishly adhered to at Canton in Octo- 
ber, to refuse all personal discussion, was accomplished at 
Tientsin under far more promising circumstances. The Chi- 
nese were obliged to accept almost any terms offered them, for 
negotiations carried on under such conditions were hardly those 
of free agents. The high commissioners were ignorant beyond 
conception of the gravity of their position and the results 
which were to flow from these treaties, whose provisions, linked 
into one compact by the favored nation clause, were, in fact, to 
form the future magna charta between almost the two halves 
of the human race. It was true that the Chinese commission- 
ers were not altogether their own masters in making them, but 
owing to their perverse seclusion, they had foolishly shut them- 
selves out from the opportunity of learning their rights. They 
had, of course, no desire to learn what they knew nothing 
about, and there was no alternative other than the display of 
force to break down the barriers which pride alone made 
strong. They had some grounds for fear, from their recent 
occupation of Canton, that the British wished for more territory 
than Hongkong ; and the frequent visits of the national vessels 
of Great Britain, the United States, and France to the insur- 
gents at Nanking indicated serious results in the future, for the 
latter owed all their religious fanaticism to foreign inspiration. 
To the persistent smuggling of opium along the whole coast 
since the treaties negotiated by Kiying sixteen years before, 
and the many social and financial evils entailed thereby, were 
now added the atrocities of the coolie trade in Kwangtung prov- 
ince. Yet the reserve of the officials upon these and other 
topics on which they might be expected to have expressed their 
views or remonstrances, was only equalled by the politeness and 
freedom with which they met their enemies in consultation. 
Xever again in the history of nations can functionaries to 
whom were confided the settlement of questions of so great 
moment, be brought together in such honest ignorance of the 
other's intentions, fears, and wishes. It was high time for 
each of the five powers, now face to face, to have the way 



THE ALLIES AT TIENTSIN — APPEAKANCE OF KITING. 301 

opened for the removal of this ignorance and a better under- 
standing substituted. 

The despatches of Lord Elgin and Mr. Reed contain transla- 
tions of many reports and memorials which were found in 
Yeh's yamun at Canton, and give one a good idea of the sort 
of information furnished to the Emperor by his highest officers. 
It is a wrong view of these papers to regard their extraordinary 
misstatements as altogether designed to deceive the court and 
screen the ill-success of the writers, for they had had no more 
facilities to investigate the real condition of foreign lands and 
the policy of their rulers than had the poor hoy Caspar Hauser 
to learn about his neighbors. 

One untoward event occurred during the negotiations. This 
was the sudden arrival of Kiying (June 8th) and his effort to 
force himself into the company of the plenipotentiaries. Since 
his departure from Canton in 1847 he had filled the premier- 
ship before the death of the late Emperor Taukwang, after 
which he had been deprived of all power and most of his 
honors. He seemed to have tried to recover them by making 
large promises at court respecting his influence over the bar- 
barians • but when he reached Tientsin he was without creden- 
tials enabling him to participate, and acted as if his misfor- 
tunes had in a measure unsettled his reason. The British min- 
ister was suspicious of his designs, and sent his two secretaries, 
on the 9th, to learn what they could of or from him. These 
gentlemen plainly pointed out to the old man the difficulties in 
the way of settling the present troubles in any other manner 
than by acceding to the demands of Lord Elgin. Kiying had, 
however, put himself in a serious dilemma. Finding very soon 
that he was powerless to change the course of events and get the 
steamers away from Tientsin (as he no doubt had promised to 
do, and thus prove his influence), he returned to Peking on the 
12th, though he had announced the reception of his full powers 
only the day before. His colleagues were not sorry to have 
him depart, but nothing definite was learned of his fate until 
at the end of three weeks, when the Emperors rescript order- 
ing him to commit suicide was received. His case was deemed 
of sufficient importance to call for a summation of the principal 



302 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

features in order to prove the righteousness of his sentence, 
and manifest the Emperor's extreme desire to be at once just 
and gracious in his decree. Kiying's case is rather an unusual 
one among Chinese officials, but the real reasons for his fall are 
probably not all stated ; his prominence abroad, arising from his 
connection with the Nanking treaty, was no criterion of his in- 
fluence at home or of the loss to the government by his death. 1 
Soon after his departure the impertinence of a native crowd 
to a party of British officers while walking through the city, 
lent some strength to the belief that Kiying's counsel had been 
warlike, and that a coup, similar to the one made at Canton in 
1841 by Yihshan, had been suggested, and the destruction of 
all the foreigners in Tientsin was hoped for as its result. Their 
relations with the citizens thus far had been amicable on the 
whole, and the interruption in this desirable state of things was 
Yerj brief. Negotiations continued, therefore, but with an 
undercurrent of doubt as to details on some important points 
among the foreign envoys. Lord Elgin had the greatest respon- 
sibility, indeed, and the task before him was difficult and deli- 
cate, but he failed in drawing to himself his colleagues and 
learning their views. They hardly knew what to do, for none 
of them wished to thwart his desires for complete and hon- 
orable intercourse with the central government, though the 
manner of reaching this end might admit of discussion. This 
he never invited. The position of the American and Russian 
envoys, pledged to their instructions not to fight, and having 
the feeling that their nations were to obtain the advantages re- 
sulting from the hostilities of the allies, was not a pleasant one ; 
but it could have been made so, and he himself relieved of his 
main anxiety as to the result, by an interview. In contrast 

1 Oliphant's Mission of Lord Elgin to China and Japan, pp. 238-253 (Ameri- 
can edition), N. Y., 1860. It is interesting to note, "before leaving this epi- 
sode, a Frenchman's opinion of the character of this statesman: "Kiying a 
ete de 1842 a 1844 le grand negociateur de la Chine. Les ministres etrangers 
ont vante son habilete, sa finesse; ses fa^ons aimables et courtoises. . . . 
Son nom symbolisait une politique nouvelle, bienveillante pour les etrangers, 
tolerante, libsrale ; il representait une sorte de jeune Chine." — M. C. Lavallee 
in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 Dec. 1859, p. 602. The same article contains 
an interesting account of the first expedition up the Pei ho and its results. 



lord Elgin's perplexities. 303 

with Lord Elgin's general bearing toward those around him, as 
detailed in his correspondence, his biographer gives an extract 
from a private letter written the day after signing his treaty, 
which describes his perplexities : 

June 29th. — I have not written for some days, but they have been busy 
ones. We went on fighting and bullying, and getting the poor commissioners 
to concede one point after another, till Friday the 25th, when we had reason 
to believe that all was settled, and that the signature was to take place the fol- 
lowing day. On Friday afternoon, however, Baron Gros came to me with a 
message from the Russian and American ministers to induce me to recede from 
two of my demands — 1, a resident minister at Peking, and, 2, permission to 
our people to trade in the interior of China ; because, as they said, the Chinese 
plenipotentiaries had told them that they had received a decree from the Em- 
peror stating that they should infallibly lose their heads if they gave way on 
these points. 

The resident minister at Peking I consider far the most important matter 
gained by the treaty ; the power to trade in the interior hardly less so. I had 
at stake not only these important points in my treaty, for which I had fought 
so hard, but I know not what behind. For the Chinese are such fools that it 
was impossible to tell, if we gave way on one point, whether they would not 
raise difficulties on every other. I sent for the admiral ; gave him a hint that 
there was a great opportunity for England ; that all the powers were deserting 
me on a point which they had all, in their original applications to Peking, de- 
manded, and which they all intended to claim if I got it ; that, therefore, we 
had it in our power to claim our place of priority in the East by obtaining 
this when others would not insist on it. Would he back me ? This was the 
forenoon of Saturday, 2Gth, and the treaty was to be signed in the evening. 

I may mention, as a proof of the state of people's minds, that Admiral Sey- 
mour told me that the French admiral had urged him to dine with him, as- 
suring him that no treaty would be signed that day ! I sent Frederick to the 
imperial commissioners to tell them that I was indignant beyond all expression 
at their having attempted to communicate with me through third parties ; 
that I was ready to sign at once the treaty as it stood ; but that if they delayed 
or retreated, I should consider negotiations at an end, go to Peking and de- 
mand a great deal more, etc. Frederick executed this most difficult task ad- 
mirably, and at six p.m. I signed the treaty of Tientsin. I am now anxiously 
awaiting some communication from Peking. Till the Emperor accepts the 
treaty I shall hardly feel safe. Please God he may ratify without delay ! I am 
sure that I express the wish just as much in the interest of China as in our own. 
Though I have been forced to act almost brutally, I am China's friend in all this. ' 

The importance of these two provisos was not exaggerated in 
his mind, but he might have seen that the difficulties with his 
colleagues were increased by his own reticence. 

1 Walrond's Life and Letters of Lord Elgin, p. 252. 



304 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

However much a different course might have harmonized 
these discordant views, the pressure on the city of Tientsin was 
too near and severe upon the Chinese, and they yielded from 
fear of worse consequences when no other arguments could have 
induced them. It was not Lord Elgin alone who felt very sen- 
sibly, on that occasion, " the painfulness of the position of a 
negotiator who has to treat with persons who yield nothing to 
reason and everything to fear, and who are at the same time 
profoundly ignorant of the subjects under discussion and of 
their own real interests." Looked at in any point of view, this 
period of negotiation at Tientsin in 1858 was a remarkable 
epoch. The sole great power of paganism was being bound by 
the obligations of a treaty extorted from its monarch by a 
handful of men in possession of the entrance to its capital. As 
one of the British officers pithily stated it, two powers had China 
by the throat, while the other two stood by to egg them on, so 
that all could share the spoil. Yet the past sixteen years had 
proven most conclusively that, unless this pressure was exerted, 
the imperial government would make no advance, admit no 
opening for learning its real position among the nations of the 
world, but mulishly cherish its ignorance, its isolation, its con- 
ceit, and its folly, until these causes had worked out the ruin so 
fondly hoped to be avoided. Even the necessity of coming 
into personal official relations with the foreign consuls to pro- 
mote the maintenance of good order between their subjects had 
been hampered or neutralized by the Chinese authorities at all 
the ports ; and there was no hope of introducing a better state 
of things until foreign ministers were received at Peking. Hap- 
pily, Lord Elgin then saw the question in all its bearings, and 
no one ever proved to be a truer friend to China than did he in 
forcing it upon her. He had little idea, probably, of one motive 
for their resistance, namely, the fear of the Manchu rulers, al- 
ready referred to, that in admitting the enemy to the capital 
they would be as summarily ejected as had been their predeces- 
sors in 1644. 

However, by the first week in July the four treaties had 
been signed and ratified by Hienfnng, and all the vessels had 
left the Fei ho, which itself was no doubt the greatest proof to 



THE TREATIES SIGNED AND RATIFIED. 305 

his Majesty that they were valid compacts ; for if the tables had 
been turned he would not have let them off so easily, and per- 
haps wondered that Tientsin had not been ransomed at the 
same rate that Elliot had spared Canton in 1841. It is diffi- 
cult to fully appreciate the crass ignorance and singular perver- 
sity of the men in whose hands the sway of the Chinese people 
were now lodged. He who is unwilling to acknowledge the 
overruling hand of God in this remarkable meeting of nations, 
would find it very difficult to acknowledge it anywhere in human 
history. 

The revision of the tariff had been deferred for a future dis- 
cussion among those qualified for the work. Five Chinese 
commissioners reached Shanghai earlv in October for this and 
other purposes, of whom Ivweiliang and Hwashana were two. 
In this part of the negotiations the controlling power was 
properly left in the hands of the British, for their trade was 
worth more than all others combined. They used this power 
most selfishly, and fastened on the weak and distracted Empire 
a veritable remora, which has gone on sucking its resources 
without compunction or cessation. By making the tariff an in- 
tegral part of the treaty, they theoretically made every infrac- 
tion a casus belli, and as no provision was left for revision, it 
was virtually rendered impossible, since the original four powers 
could not again be brought to unite on its readjustment with a 
view to the rights of China. While particular provision was 
made in it for preventing the importation of salt and the im- 
plements and munitions of war, the trade in opium was legal- 
ized at a lower rate than was paid on tea and silk entering Eng- 
land, and the brand of immorality and smuggling was removed 
from its diffusion throughout China. The weakness and igno- 
rance of the Chinese were such as laid them open to the power 
and craft of other nations, but the inherent wrong of the prin- 
ciple of ex-territorial ity was never more unjustly applied than 
in breaking down the moral sense of a people by forcing them 
to legalize this drug. The evils of smuggling it were insuffer- 
able, but a heavy duty was desirable as a check and stigma 
upon the traffic. The solution to a statesman in Lord Elgin's 
position was exceedingly difficult in relation to this point, and 



306 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

he perhaps took the safest course under the existing circum- 
stances, but it has proved to be fraught with evils to the Chi- 
nese. One who now reads his biography and learns his nice 
sense of right and equity in national affairs, will not be sur- 
prised to see his doubts as to the best course to take where all 
were so many moves in the dark. 

The war which arose about the Arrow was now virtually 
closed, but many things remained to be enforced in carrying 
out the treaty stipulations or restraining the irritation they pro- 
duced. The vastness of the Empire sundered its inhabitants so 
widely that each felt the troubles it endured only when they 
came near ; but to all of them the obligations of treaty were of 
the most shadowy nature. It would require years of patient 
instruction to educate the mass of natives up to the idea that 
these obligations affected them as individuals. One means of 
this instruction, which subsequent years have shown to be both 
practical and profitable, was the extension and reorganization 
of the administration of the customs under foreign supervision. 
Its short service at Shanghai had proved it to be easy and safe 
of operation, and the increased fidelity everywhere in collecting 
the duties gratified the central and provincial governments ex- 
ceedingly. It was a startling proof of the degrading effects of 
the opium and smuggling trade upon the honor of the foreign 
merchants that they generally resisted the transfer of collecting 
duties from native to foreign hands, and endeavored in a thou- 
sand ways to thwart and ridicule the altered system. This 
feeling, however, disappeared with the incoming of a new set of 
merchants, and the Chinese government has, since the first, 
found no difficulty in utilizing the skill, knowledge,. and power 
of their employes, not only in fiscal departments, but where- 
ever they felt the need of such qualifications. Beginning at 
Shanghai, when the local officers were helpless against their 
own subjects, mandarins and people alike desired the advan- 
tages of an honestly collected tariff to be extended to every 
port opened for foreign trade. 

The changes formulated in the treaties of Tientsin could re- 
ceive their accomplishment only after patient efforts on the 
part of ministers, consuls, and collectors to carry them into 



CLOSING INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 307 

effect with due regard to the position of the native rulers. In 
order to open the way into the country, Lord Elgin visited 
Hankow in four ships in November, after he had signed the 
tariff. The rebels in possession of Nanking and other towns, 
being unapprised of his character, fired at him from some of 
their forts, for which " they were pounded pretty severely in 
return." But a few words afterward proved more effectual 
than many shots, and no further altercation occurred. The 
voyage to and return from Hankow occupied seven weeks, and 
inaugurated a commerce and intercourse which has resulted in 
much good to the natives by making them rapidly acquainted 
with foreigners. The right of China to the exclusive navi- 
gation of her internal waters was summarily set aside by 
making Hankow a seaport ; on the other hand, the govern- 
ment derived many advantages in the moral assistance given 
her at the time against the rebels by having them restrained, 
and, up to the present day, in the stimulus given to internal 
trade and rapid intercourse between the peoples of remote 
districts. 

The year 1858 was fraught with great events, involving the 
welfare of the people of China and Japan and their future po- 
sition and progress. Much against their will they had been 
forced into political relations with Europe and America, and in 
a measure deprived of their independence under the guise of 
treaties which erected an imperium in imperio in their borders. 
Their rulers, ignorant of the real meaning of these principles 
of ex-territoriality, were tied down to observe them, and found 
themselves within a few years humbled before those of their 
own subjects who had begun to look to foreigners for protec- 
tion. The perplexity of the Chinese commissioners at Shanghai 
in this new position was exhibited in a despatch addressed on 
November 1, 1858, to the three envoys. In it they discuss the 
right of foreigners who have no treaties to go into the inte- 
rior, and insist upon the absolute necessity of restraining them, 
which their own mercantile consuls could not and would not do. 

" Being unacquainted," they wrote, " with the usages of for- 
eign nations in this respect, and unwilling of ourselves to lay 
down preventive regulations respecting issuing passports, we 



308 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

desire first to receive the result of your deliberations before we 
act in the premises." They then proceed to show how neces- 
sary it will be for the future peace between conflicting interests 
and nationalities that consuls should not be merchants, for 
"some of those of your respective nations have formerly and 
often acted* in a manner calculated to impede and mar the har- 
mony that existed between their nations and our own ; wilfully 
disregarding everything but their own opinions, they have 
carried out their own high-handed measures to the ruin of all 
cordial feeling." The writers had no idea how this despatch 
was an argument and a proof of the need of strong measures 
to drag them out of their stupid ignorance and childish desires 
for isolation, and compel them to understand their duties. 
The education then begun was the only means through which 
to raise the Chinese rulers and people to a higher plane of civ- 
ilization and liberty. One document like this carries in itself 
enough to show how ignorant were its writers and their col- 
leagues of their own duties, and how hopeless was the prospect 
of their emerging voluntarily from their seclusion. The trea- 
ties bound them down to keep the peace, while they opened 
the channels through which the people could learn whatever 
was true and useful, without fear of punishment or reproach. 
The toleration of Christianity, the residence of foreign minis- 
ters at Peking, and the freedom to travel through the land 
were three avenues heretofore closed against the welfare and 
progress of China which the treaties opened, and through 
which she has already made more real advances than ever be- 
fore in her historv. 1 



] For full details on these important negotiations, see the Blue Book pre- 
sented to Parliament July 15, 1359, containing Lord Elgin's correspondence: 
U. S. Senate Executive Document No. 30, read March 13, 1860, containing 
correspondence of Messrs. Reed, Williams, and Ward, from June, 1857, to 
September 17, 1859 ; Oliphant's Mission of Lord Elgin to China and Japan, 
London and New York, 1860 ; Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Personal Narrative of 
Three Years' Service in Cliina, London, 1863 ; le Marquis de Moges, Baron Gros'x 
Embassy to China and Japan, 1860 ; Walrond's Letters and Journals ofJamec. 
Earl of Elf/in, London, 1872 ; Lieut. J. D. Johnston, CJiina and Japan, Phila- 
delphia. 1860; North American Review, Vol. XC, p. 125; Blackwood's Mafic- 
zinc, Vols. LXXXVL, p. 647, LXXXVII.,pp. 430, 535, andLXXXIX., p. 373* 



SENTIMENT OF CHINESE TOWARD THE ALLIES. 309 

By the end of December, 1858, the four envoys had left 
China, as well as most of the small force under their control. 
None of them had reached Peking, so that the Emperor was 
relieved of his fear that he would be carried off as was his 
commissioner, Yeh, from Canton ; he had, moreover, another 
year of grace to learn what he ought to do to carry out the 
treaties. lie was also relieved by the refusal of the allies to 
join their quarrel with the* efforts of the Tai -pings and march 
together to the conquest of the Empire. In Canton the pres- 
ence of the allies had been an irritation chiefly to the provincial 
officers, who busied themselves in stimulating large bodies of 
braves in its vicinity to assassinate and rob individual foreigners 
near or in the city, keeping up in this manner a lasting feeling 
of discontent. Several skirmishes took place, and a large dis- 
trict within the city near the British quarters on Kwanyin Shan 
was burned over to insure protection against sudden attacks. 
The new governor-general, Hwang, had formed a league of 
the gentry and braves, which chiefly exhibited their power in 
liarassing their own countrymen. He was removed in disgrace 
at Lord Elgin's request, and all these puny and useless attacks 
brought to an end. 

An incident which occurred near Canton about fifteen months 
after the city had been captured, strikingly shows the character 
of the people : " February 11th. — On the 8th a body of troops 
about one thousand strong started on an expedition which was 
to take three days. I accompanied, or rather preceded them 
on the first day's march, about twelve miles from Canton. We 
rode through a very pretty country, passing by the village of 
Shek-tsing, where there was a fight a fortnight ago. The peo- 
ple were very respectful, and apparently not alarmed by our 
visit. At the place where the troops were to encamp for the 
night a cattle fair was in progress, and our arrival did not seem 
to interrupt the proceedings. February 13th. — The military 
expedition was entirely successful. The troops were every- 
where received as friends. Considering what has been of yore 
the state of feeling in this province toward us, I think this 
almost the most remarkable thing which has happened since I 
came here. Would it have happened if I had given way to 



310 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

those who wished me to carry fire and sword through all the 
country villages ? " ' 

These same villages furnished thousands of volunteers in May, 
1841, to attack Sir Hugh Gough's army, and had been engaged 
in a desperate struggle with their countrymen only three years 
before, so that this change was owing neither to cowardice nor 
sulkiness. It had been brought about chiefly through consider- 
ate treatment of the people by the British garrison in Canton, 
by honest payment for supplies, and by regard for the traffic 
and local government of the city ; the citizens consequently had 
no complaint to make or revenge to satisfy. Those who from 
infancy had been brought up to call every foreigner afan-kwei, 
or ' foreign devil,' now slowly appreciated the fact that they 
had been mistaken — nor were the misconceptions all on their 
side. During the three years the city was occupied, public opin- 
ion there underwent an entire change ; and the Cantonese are 
now as courteous as they before were ill-mannered. 

At this season of rebellion and foreign war under which 
China was now suffering, the province of Kwangtung had a 
special cause for just irritation against all foreigners in the 
coolie trade. The headquarters of this trade were at Macao, and 
by 1860 it had become nearly the only business carried on there. 
The population of the colony is perhaps seventy-odd thousand, 
of whom less than iive thousand wear a foreign dress. Traffic 
and industry are mostly carried on by Chinese, who do all the 
work. When the trade of hiring Chinese as contract laborers 
to go to Cuba, Peru, and elsewhere began, there was no diffi- 
culty in obtaining men willing to try their fortunes abroad. As 
rumors of gold diggings open to their labors in California were 
spread abroad and confirmed by returning miners, the coolie 
ships were readily filled by men whose ignorance of outer lands 
made them easily believe that they were bound to El Dorado, 
whatever countiw they shipped for. The inducement for hiring 
them was the low rate of wages ($4 a month) at which they 
were willing to sell their labor, and the profits derived from in- 
troducing them into western tropical regions. The temptations 

1 Walrond's Letters and Journals of Lord Elgin, p. 308. 



ATEOCITIES OF THE COOLIE TEADE. 311 

of this business became so great that within ten years the de- 
mand had far exceeded the supply. Seldom has the unscrupu- 
lous character of trade, where its operations are left free from 
the restraints either of competent authority or of morality, been 
more sadly exhibited than in the conduct of the agents who 
filled these coolie ships. The details of the manner in which 
natives of all classes, scholars, travellers, laborers, peddlers, 
and artisans, were kidnapped in town and country and sent to 
Macao, were seldom known, because the victims were unable 
to make themselves heard. When the rebels at Fuhshan were 
defeated in 1855, thousands of their followers were glad to 
save their lives by shipping as coolies, but this lasted only a 
short time. 

The allied commissioners in charge of Canton took cognizance 
of these outrages, and upon the representations of Governor- 
General Lao took vigorous measures for breaking up the trade 
at Whampoa. 1 The United States minister, Hon. J. E. Ward, 
lent his aid in February, 1S60, by allowing the Chinese author- 
ities to take three hundred and seventeen men out of the Ameri- 
can ship Messenger in order to ascertain whether any of them 
were detained on board against their will. Every one of them 
declined to go back to the ship, but it was not proved how 
many had been beguiled away on false pretences — the usual 
mode of kidnapping. The report of the commission sent to 
Cuba a dozen years later asserts, as the result of careful inqui- 
ries, that the majority of the coolies in Cuba " were decoyed 
abroad, not legitimately induced to emigrate." 

The Portuguese rulers of Macao were unwilling to make 
thorough investigation into the facts about this business until 
after the return of the commission sent to Cuba in 1873, whose 
report disclosed the inevitable evils and wrongs inherent in the 
traffic. Urged by the British government, they finally (in 1875) 
closed the barracoons, and thus put an end to it. During the 
twenty-five years of its existence about five hundred thousand 
coolies were taken away. 

1 Compare Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Personal Narrative of Three Years' Ser- 
vice in China, pp. 260-342, where the matter is pretty thoroughly discussed 
and Lao's proclamations given in detail. 



312 HISTORY OF CHT1N T A. 

To return to the war : throughout the winter no event of note 
occurred in any part of China, but the imperial government 
was busily employed in fortifying the mouth of the Pei ho to 
prevent the entrance of the allies. They demolished the old 
forts to rebuild new ones of materials gathered on the spot, and 
constructed somewhat after the manner laid down in foreign 
authorities on fortification. These books had been translated 
for them by natives trained in mission schools. Notwithstand- 
ing all that Kweiliang and Hwashana may have assured them 
to the contrary, the Emperor and his officers could not divest 
themselves of their fears of serious reprisals, if not of con- 
quest, should they permit the allied gunboats to anchor a second 
time at Tientsin and their embassies to enter the capital. The 
two commissioners awaited at Shanghai the arrival of the Brit- 
ish, French, and American plenipotentiaries, for the purpose of 
urging them to exchange the ratifications in that city. Never- 
theless, since Peking was expressly appointed in the first two 
treaties as the place for signing them, Mr. Bruce and M. Bour- 
boulon, the English and French ministers, determined to insist 
upon this detail. The poor commissioners, on the other hand, 
knowing more than they dared to tell of the hostile prepara- 
tions going on, steadily declined the offer of a passage to Taku. 
Mr. Ward was not tied down to any place or time for exchanging 
the American treaty, but decided to do so at the same place with 
his colleagues. The three ministers remained in the south to 
exchange views and allow the British gunboats to collect off 
Taku before their arrival, when they all joined them on June 
20th. The appearance of the forts was entirely different from 
last year, and confirmed the reports of the great efforts making 
to prevent foreigners reaching the capital in large numbers. The 
river was found to be barred by an elaborate boom of timber 
and chains; but though no soldiers were in sight on the battle- 
ments, it was evident that a collision was intended. The recon- 
noissance had been carefully made from the 17th to the 24th, 
and the Chinese general, Sang-ko-lin-sin, felt confident of his 
ability to hold his own against the ships inside of the bar. All 
official intercourse was refused with Admiral Hope, though he 
had stated his purpose clearly, because, as was alleged, these 



REPULSE OF THE ALLIES BEFOKE TAKU. 313 

forts and men were merely gathered by the common people to 
defend themselves against pirates. 

In order to discover the real state of feeling toward a neutral, 
Commodore Tatnall took Mr. Ward, in the United States char- 
tered steamer Toeywan, into the river on the 24th, and pro- 
ceeded toward a jetty near the fort. The steamer ran aground 
when about half a mile short of it ; the minister then sent his 
interpreters to the jetty, where they were met by a dozen or 
more miserably dressed fellows who had come from the fort for 
that purpose. On learning the errand of the foreigners, one or 
two of the men spoke up in a way which showed that they were 
officers — probably disguised as coolies — telling the deputation 
that the passage to Tientsin by the Pei ho had been barred, but 
that the governor-general, Hangfuh, was then at Pehtang, a 
place about ten miles up the coast, where he was ready to re- 
ceive the American minister. They added that they had no 
authority to take any letter or card for him ; that they knew 
very well the nationality of the Toeywan, which would not be 
harmed if she did not attempt to break through the boom laid 
just above the jetty ; and, lastly, that they were not at all em- 
powered to aid or advise the Americans in getting up to Peh- 
tang. The whole episode was a ridiculous ruse on the part of 
the Chinese to hide their design of forcibly preventing the 
ministers from ascending the river: but bv so undignified a 
behavior the general commanding the works forfeited whatever 
moral advantage might otherwise have remained on his side. 
After Admiral Hope had commenced his operations against the 
barriers, Hangfuh did indeed send a letter to the British minis- 
ter — then lying nine miles off the shore — informing him of the 
arrangements made at Pehtang to take the allied envoys from 
thence to the capital. These arrangements certainly violated 
no article of the treaties, nor any promise made to the foreign- 
ers, though they neutralized entirely the journey to Peking 
upon which the British government had determined to send its 
plenipotentiary. 

One may learn from the letters of Mr. Bruce to Lord Malmes- 
bury (of July 5th and 13th) many details of the impertinent 
reception accorded to Admiral Hope's messengers by the rabble 



314 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

and soldiers near the Taku forts, all proving plainly enough 
their hostile intentions. But the minister overlooks what we, 
in retracing the history of these years, cannot too attentively 
keep in mind, namely, the ever-present fear of trickery and foul 
play with their unknown engines of war which the Emperor's 
counsellors momentarily dreaded from their foreign adversaries. 
On the other hand, what could be done with a government 
which would never condescend to appreciate its own weakness, 
would never speak or act the truth, would never treat any other 
nation as an equal? These and other despatches from the 
Blue Book afford a key to the policies of both parties in this 
remarkable contest, and convince the impartial student of the 
necessity of personal contact and acquaintance before it was 
possible to reach a lasting understanding between the holders 
of so widely separated views. 

During the night of the 23d, after the Toeywan had floated 
at high water, the British advanced and blew up the first boom, 
leaving, however, the second and stronger obstruction untouched. 
The attempt to ascend the river in force was commenced by the 
allies in the following afternoon, when the forts opened fire 
upon them and by evening had sunk or silenced almost every 
vessel. In this fleet thirteen small gunboats were engaged, one 
of the largest among them, a French craft, carrying six hundred 
men ; besides these were some six hundred marines and engi- 
neers designed to serve as an escort upon the journey to the 
capital. This guard was now landed in the mud before the 
forts and an attempt made to carry the works by escalade, but 
the effort failed, and by daylight the men were all once more 
afloat. From the gunboats twenty -five men were killed and 
ninety-three wounded ; the loss among the marines was natu- 
rally heavier — sixty-four killed and two hundred and fifty-two 
wounded, while of the boats four were sunk. 1 

Throughout this action the American vessel Toeywan re- 
mained inside of the bar, being a non-combatant. The gallant, 
energy of Commodore Tatnall, who in the thick of the fight 
passed through the fleet to visit the British admiral lying 

1 One of these afterward floated of itself and was preserved. 



Upper North Fort 

C&ptured 21 'lAugt. 1860. 



PLAN OF THE MOUTH OF THE PEI-HO, 

Sheicing the Defences 

and illustrative of the Attack of 25'* June, 1859 
Scale 



600 800 

Reference 
A. A. A. A. Piles driven closely in the Mud 

B. Barrier of Iron Stakes 

C. Chain or Cable 

D. Boom of heavy Timber and Chains 

E. Massive Baft 



Gr'eatn /North Fort. 




v Plover 2 ^ Position 
\ C/'\ \A 

| \i\ \Opossupi 2 '^.Position 

■^ v \.Lee, 8 - Position. 

\'Haughty 2kPosition 

B --' \B a nterer 

^Kestrel 



1000 Yards 




Opossum 

Landing Ptace Ue I 

\ Janus /j 



Cormorant 



Nimrod "*&#•&""' 



Forester* 



316 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

wounded in the Plover, well-nigh cost him his life ; a shot from 
the Chinese guns tore into the stern of his barge, killing the 
coxswain, and narrowly missed sinking the boat with all on 
hoard. Tatnall's declaration, in extenuation of his technical 
violation of international law by towing boat-loads of British 
marines into action, that " blood is thicker than water," has in- 
dissolubly associated his name with this battle of the Pei ho. 1 

The American minister was present as a spectator at this re- 
pulse before the Taku forts, but this could not be properly con- 
sidered as a reason for not making further attempts to reach 
Peking. He accordingly, though not without some difficulty, 
notified the governor-general at Pehtang of his arrival, and four 
days later a pilot was sent off and the Toeywan taken up to 
Pehtang. Mr. Ward, in his report to Washington, expresses 
his belief that he would not be allowed to reach Peking, while 
the Chinese had no other intention than to escort him there 
and bring him safely back. On July 8th boats were sent to 
conduct his party to the place of meeting, which they reached 
through a line of soldiers in uniform placed along the sides of 
the streets, and were ushered into a large hall amid a crowd 
of officials. The recent encounter at Taku was discussed in a 
sensible manner, without apparent anxiety or bravado, and then 
the arrangements for taking the whole party of twenty to Pe- 
king were made known. Among other topics of inquiry brought 
forward was the cost of such vessels as had been sunk in the 
Pei ho by their guns — as if the officials had been estimating the 
probable expense of their victory when the English brought in 
their usual bill of damages. But the offer of Commodore Tat- 
nall to place his surgeons at the disposal of the Chinese, to aid 
in treating the wounded men at the forts, was declined. 

Everything being made ready by July 20th, the American 
minister set out under the escort of Chimghow, now first 
brought into contact with foreigners. About forty miles of 
flat, saltish plain was crossed, until the party reached Peh- 
tsang, on the Pei ho, where were lying the boats prepared for 



1 Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher's Personal Narrative of Three Tears' Service in 
China, Chaps. XIII. and XIV. 



MR. WARD'S VISIT TO PEKING. 317 

their reception. As they proceeded up the river the inhabitants 
flocked to the banks to behold the dreaded foreigners, but no 
expressions of vaunting or hostility were heard among the 
myriads who now gazed for the first time upon them. The 
vast crowd at Tungchau, when the twenty Americans landed, 
comprised apparently the whole population of that city ; clad in 
white summer garments, and preserving a most remarkable 
stillness and decorum as they lined the river banks and high- 
way, this silent, gazing multitude produced upon the strangers 
an effect incomparably weird. The day was oppressively hot, 
and many preferred the carts to the mules provided for the 
trip to Peking, where they all arrived on the 27th. A ridicu- 
lous rumor, illustrated by appropriate pictures, respecting this 
journey was circulated in Paris about a fortnight afterward, 
stating that Mr. Ward and his party were conducted from the 
coast in an immense " box or travelling chamber, drawn overland 
by oxen," and then put " on a raft to be towed up the river and 
Imperial Canal as far as the gate of the capital. They were 
well treated, and were taken back to the coast in the same 
manner." This jeux d? esprit probably expressed the popular 
sentiment in France of what was expected from the Chinese, 
and has ever since been associated with it. 

On announcing his arrival, a meeting was arranged for the 
30th between Mr. Ward and Kweiliang and Hwashana, at 
which all the time was occupied in discussing the question of 
the manner of audience. The minister had the advantage in 
this interesting colloquy, for he had come up at the invitation 
of the governor-general, had no directions from the Presi- 
dent upon the matter, was quite indifferent as to the result of 
the conference, and had no presents to be rejected as Lord 
Amherst's were in 1816. The nature of the kotow and the 
reasons for requiring it of all who had audience of the Emperor 
were fully discussed at several interviews in the most amicable 
and courteous manner. The Chinese were anxious to bring 
about an audience, and went so far as to waive the kotow, or 
knocking head, from the first, and proposed instead that the 
envoy should bend one knee as he approached the sovereign. 
This was even less of an obeisance than English courtiers paid 



318 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their Queen, and might have been accepted without difficulty — 
if any compromise were possible — had not one of the party 
previously declared the religious nature of the ceremony by 
saying, " If we do not kneel before the Emperor, we do not 
show him any respect ; it is that or nothing, and is the same 
reverence which we pay the gods." Kweiliang further said 
that he himself would willingly burn incense before the Presi- 
dent of the United States if asked to do so. 1 

During their whole national history the Chinese rulers and 
people had accepted this ceremony as the inseparable preroga- 
tive of the Son of Heaven ; and as this discussion in their capi- 
tal was in the hearing of a great crowd of officials, who, doubt- 
less, were prompt enough in circulating among the populace a 
report of the disagreement, one may appreciate the feelings of 
the latter when the American embassy was allowed quietly to 
leave the city without entering into the " Great Interior " to 
behold the Dragon's Face. Foreigners have been so ready in 
China to ridicule or depreciate whatever partakes of resistance 
to their notions (unless it be backed up by force to make it re- 
spected), that this remarkable discussion on a vital point in Chi- 
nese etiquette and theology was generally regarded as silly ver- 
biage on their part or ascribed to the effect of fear on the part 
of the Americans. As the time and place for exchanging rati- 
fications were not mentioned in the treaty, there was no insu- 
perable difficulty in adjourning the ceremony to another place ; 
yet it seemed a grotesque ending to the four days' discussion 
for Kweiliang to seriously ask the minister for what purpose 
he had come to Peking, he himself being quite at a loss to 
understand the reason. Mr. Ward replied that it was to deliver 
the letter from the President, and to exchange the ratifications. 
It would have been better if he had held him to the promise 
made by the governor-general at Pehtang to do so in Peking. 
However, the return trip was concluded by the exchange of 
ratifications on August 15th at Pehtang, and the departure of 
the frigate for Shanghai soon after. 

1 See Ward's despatches, pp. 594-617, IT. S. Senate Executive Document No. 
30, read March 13, 1860 ; American Eclectic Magazine, New York, Vol. 51, 
April and May, 1861 ; North China Br. R. A. Society, Vol. I., No. 3, 1859. 



LOED ELGIN AND BARON GEOS RETURN TO CHINA. 319 

The mortification of having been repulsed at Taku was not 
concealed bj the British public or press, when they ascribed it 
to the too hasty landing at sunset on a mud flat over which 
there was no pathway or footing. There certainly was no 
treachery on the part of the Chinese, as Mr. Swinhoe declares 
in his North China Campaign, for they plainly told what they 
would do if the passage were attempted. 1 Yet it was a grievous 
disappointment to find that the exchange of ratifications had 
been interrupted from any cause ; and though it will probably 
always be a debatable point whether it was right for the allied 
envoys to refuse the offered means of reaching Peking by way 
of Pehtang, there was no debate now as to the necessity of has- 
tening to the capital at once. 

The British and French governments moved immediately in 
the matter, and wisely decided to place the settlement of the 
question in the same hands that had carried it thus far. In 
April, 1860, Earl Eussell wrote to Lord Elgin that " Her Ma- 
jesty resolved to employ every means calculated to establish 
peace with the Emperor of China, and had determined to call 
upon him again to give his valuable services to promote this im- 
portant object." The indispensable conditions were three, viz., 
an apology for the attack on the allied forces at the Pei ho ; the 
ratification and execution of the treaty ; and payment for the ex- 
penses incurred by the allies. Lord Elgin's colleague was Baron 
Gros, and the two were ready to leave Europe in April. They 
were supported in making their demands by an army of about 
ten thousand British troops of all arms, gathered from England, 
Cape Colony, and India, and nearly seven thousand French sent 
from France. Their respective naval forces were not largely 
added to, but the requisite transports increased the fleets to 
more than two hundred vessels in all, of which thirty-three 



1 Though they told many lies as well. These charges against the Chinese were 
reiterated until they were believed by all the world ; but in the effort to find 
a good reason for proceeding to Peking in order to exohange the ratifications, 
it was not needful to say that the forts fired upon the British ships without 
notice. Mr. Bruce's despatches to Lord Malmesbury (of July 13th), together 
with the enclosures and translations of native documents, discuss this question 
with much good sense. 



320 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

were French. The latter had small iron gunboats, fitted to 
carry one gun, brought from home in fifteen pieces each ; when 
screwed together each boat had three compartments, made 
water-tight with layers of vulcanized rubber at the joinings. 
The British forces gathered at Talien-wan Bay on the south- 
eastern side of Prince Regent's Sword, and the French at Chifu 
on the coast of Shantung. The plenipotentiaries had arrived 
in July of this year and found the imperial government main- 
taining its old attitude of conciliation and undue assumption. 
On March 8th the foreigners' terms had been made known by 
Mr. Bruce, and a reply shortly afterward transmitted to him 
through Ho Kwei-tsing at Shanghai. In it the lurking fear of 
reprisals, so largely actuating its conduct, appears from the con- 
clusion, when the council says : "If Mr. Bruce will come north 
without vessels of war and with but a moderate retinue, and 
will wait at Pehtang to exchange the treaties, China will not 
take him to task for what has gone by. But if he be resolved 
to bring up a number of war-vessels, and if he persist in pro- 
ceeding by way of Taku, this will show that his true purpose is 
not the exchange of treaties." 1 After such a declaration there 
was but one way left by which to prove to the Emperor how 
thoroughly in earnest were the allies in their intention of ex- 
changing the treaties. The last bulwark of Chinese seclusion 
was now to be broken down — never more, we may hope, to be 
erected against the advancing influences of a more enlightened 
civilization. 

After the usual delays incident to moving large bodies of 
troops with their various equipages, the combined forces left 
their anchorages on July 26th, presenting with their long lines 
of ships a grand sight as they went up the smooth waters of the 
Gulf of Pechele toward the mouth of the Pehtang River. This 
assemblage was many times larger than the armaments sent to 
the same region in the two previous years, and the experiences 
of those years had prepared both parties to regard this third 
attempt to reach the Court of Cambaluc as decisive of their 
future relations. The forces found much inconvenience in ef- 



Wolseley's Narrative, p. 14. Fisher's China, Chap. XXIII. 



LANDING OF THE ALLIES AT PEHTANG. 321 

fecting a landing at Pehtang, where the beach at low tide ex- 
tends over miles of ooze and sticky mud, but met no forcible 
opposition. The towns in this region are among the most re- 
pulsive-looking on the whole Chinese coast. In consequence of 
the saline soil no trees or grass are to be seen on the wide 
plain ; the only green things being a few fruit trees near the 
houses, or scattering patches of salsola and similar plants. The 
houses are built of mud and chopped straw ; their walls rest on 
layers of sorghum stalks spread on the foundation to intercept 
the saline influences, while the thatched roofs also contain 
much mud. These soon present a scanty covering of grass, 
which, speedily withering in the hot sun, imparts to the dwell- 
ing a still more forlorn aspect. Cheerless enough on a bright 
day, the appearance of one of these hamlets in wet weather — 
with mud streaming from the roofs, the streets reeking with 
noisome filth, through which loaded carts and half -naked men 
wend dolefully their way — is certainly melancholy beyond any 
description. 

The allies were on shore by the evening of August 2d, and 
in a most pitiable plight in their own eyes. The men had been 
obliged to wade through the mud left by the retiring tide to 
reach solid ground, and then cross a moat that received the 
drainings of the town, a reeking mass much worse, of course, 
than the other. No fresh water was to be had, and the time 
which elapsed before the men could be supplied from the boats 
was spent in putting themselves up for the night, wet, dirty, 
and hungry as they were. In the morning it was found that 
the few forts which they were to attack were merely for show, 
and soon the town was occupied by the troops, their generals 
taking the temples for quarters. In less than three days every 
house in it had been pillaged, and whatever was worthless for 
plunder was destroyed as useless, " the few natives that still 
lingered by their unusurped domiciles," adds Mr. Swinhoe, 
"quietly watching with the eye of despair the destruction of 
all the property they possessed in the world, and the ruin of 
their hopes perhaps forever." Even the poor wretches who 
were trying to carry off their goods in Dacks were stopped and 
stripped by the prowling soldiers. 



322 HISTORY OF CHITtfA. 

In less than a fortnight the entire force had been brought 
ashore without accident or opposition. There were men, tents, 
guns, horses, provisions, animals, stores, ammunition, baggage, 
— everything, in short, which an army now needs and which 
steam easily brings to it. Besides these, two thousand five 
hundred Cantonese coolies, each of whom is estimated by 
Colonel Wolseley, with supreme candor, to have been of more 
general value than any three baggage animals. They were 
working constantly for ten days, carrying water, landing stores, 
and performing the toil devolving on camp followers, for which 
this author magnanimously praises them by saying: "They 
were easily fed, and when properly treated most manageable." 

On August 12th the forces were ready to move on the Taku 
forts lying about five miles distant across the plain, now ren- 
dered miry by the constant rains. A single causeway three 
miles long, flanked by deep ditches, traversed it, and along this 
progress, especially for the heavy artillery, was exceedingly 
slow. Upon their passage of this road the Chinese general, 
Sangkolinsin, yielded the only vantage-ground where he could 
have encountered his enemy with hope of success. This igno- 
rant blunder on the part of so energetic a commander seems all 
the more unaccountable, since a week previously the Chinese 
cavalry had been much emboldened by some slight successes 
over a reconnoitring party of the allies, and " approached our 
outposts with wonderful courage, a few even advancing to within 
a few hundred yards, brandishing the swords and making gro- 
tesque gesticulations." 

At last the allies were ready to advance to the attack of the 
Chinese. The Mongol horsemen commenced the engagement 
by rushing fearlessly forward in several irregular lines of 
skirmishers, and bravely received the shot from the Armstrong 
guns, until they charged with a loud, wild yell the Sikh cavalry, 
with whom they engaged in close conflict. But " in less than 
a minute the Tartars had turned and were flying for their lives 
before our well-armed irregulars supported by two squadrons 
of the finest dragoons in the British army ; the pursuit lasted 
for five miles, and was then only ended by our horses being 
pumped out. Had they been in good working order the re- 



CAPTURE OF SINHO AND THE TAKU EORTS. 323 

suits would have been far more satisfactory, and the worthy 
tax-payers at home would have had the pleasure of gloating 
over the account of an immense list of slain enemies." * 

The allied infantry had already reached the intrenched camp, 
near the village of Sinho, and the " beautifully precise practice " 
of the Armstrongs, together with the accurate rifled guns of 
the French, were brilliantly successful in knocking over the 
Chinese who served their gingalls at the ranges of fourteen 
hundred or a thousand yards. 

The reader cannot desire further particulars of this unequal 
contest as described by Colonel (now Lord) Garnet "Wolseley. 
The various forces of the Chinese were entirely routed by the 
allies ; the plain was speckled for miles by native corpses, while 
the care of wounded men called out the sympathies and skill of 
their conquerors. The village of Sinho was plundered, and its 
inhabitants fled, glad to escape with their lives. 2 The next 
morning an advance was made by the entire force upon the five 
forts and intrenched camps at Tangku, three miles off, from 
which the imperialists were dislodged with considerable loss on 
their part, the rest retreating across the Pei ho toward Taku. 
Tangku town was occupied by the foreigners, who took under 
their care everybody left in it, and relieved the wounded and 
starving while preparing for the intended attack on the forts. 
This kindness, and the consequent increased acquaintance arising 
between the contending parties in obtaining supplies, did much 
to remove their ignorance and contempt of each other — a result 
far more desirable and useful than the capture of forts and 
prisoners. 

The French having already encamped on the further bank 
of the Pei ho, each army commenced the building of a bridge 5 
across the stream, completing the structure so speedily that by 
the morning of August 21st the whole attacking force was in 
position. The twenty-three pieces of artillery now began to 
fire upon the north fort, from which the Chinese replied with 

1 Wolseley, Narrative, p. 103. 

' A great collection of official documents disclosing the views of the court 
upon the struggle was found in the yamun . 

- Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Personal Narrative, pp. 404-409. 



324 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

all the alacrity they could, although taken thus in rear. About 
six o'clock, when the fire waxed hotter and hotter, and the 
troops were anxiously looking for the signal to advance, " a tall 
black pillar, as if by magic, shot up from the midst of the 
nearest fort, and then bursting like a rocket after it had obtained 
a great height, was soon lost in the vast shower of earth and 
wood into which it resolved itself — a loud, bursting, booming 
sound marking the moment of its short existence." But the 
fire from the fort only ceased for a minute or two, and the 
gunners served their pieces most manfully, though sometimes 
unprotected in any way from the crushing shell fire opposed to 
them. The attack began about seven o'clock, nearly four thou- 
sand men all told forming the advance. A gallant defence was 
made to a still braver onset, but the victory naturally fell to 
the disciplined forces of the allies, who had possessed them- 
selves of all the defences before noon. A few guns taken from 
the ships destroyed June 25, 1859, were now recovered by the 
British, but otherwise the fort contained nothing of value. The 
loss of life on both sides was comparatively slight. The Brit- 
ish had seventeen killed and one hundred and eighty-three 
wounded ; the French, one hundred and thirty casualties in all ; 
the Chinese lay dead in heaps in the fort, and their total loss 
probably exceeded two thousand. The interior testified in 
every part the noble manner in which it had been defended, 
even after the disastrous explosion had crippled the resources 
and discouraged the enthusiasm of its garrison. From this 
position the allies moved on the other northern fort with their 
artillery, under a continual fire from its walls ; but before the 
guns could open upon it, many white flags appeared on the 
parapets ; messengers were ere long seen to leave the great 
southern fort. They were all given up before sunset, and the 
famous Taku forts, which had last year witnessed the discom- 
fiture of the allies, now saw them enter as conquerors 1 — " the 
tarnished honor of our arms was gloriously vindicated." 

1 When the allied generals came to carefully examine the construction o' 
the walls, casemates, and internal arrangements, with the preparation made 
outside to hinder the enemy, they declared them to he absolutely impregnable 
from seaward if defended as well as the north fort had been. 



THE ADVANCE TO TIENTSIN. 325 

Lord Elgin was quietly resting in Tangku, and refused to 
receive their surrender, or even to hold intercourse with Hang- 
fuh, the governor-general of Chihli, then in command, but 
turned him over to the commander of the forces. The path 
being now open for the troops to march upon Tientsin, the 
gunboats were sent forward to see that the river was clear. On 
the 25th the two plenipotentiaries were again housed at Tien- 
tsin, accompanied by naval and land forces amply strong to take 
them to Peking. Xo opposition was, however, experienced in 
reaching that city, while the pleasing contrast in the surface of 
this country with that of the dreary flats near Pehtang and 
Taku refreshed the men as much as the abundant supplies and 
peacefulness of the people aided them. Such remarkable con- 
trasts in China illustrate the inert character of this extraordi- 
nary people ; and further, also lead one to inquire what is the 
reason for their loyalty to a government which fails so com- 
pletely in protecting them from their enemies. Mr. Swinhoe 
records 1 a conversation held with a well-to-do Chinese, in which 
this inquiry receives a partial answer in the peaceful education 
of a race which has no alternative. 

His intrenchments at Sinho and Tangku being demolished, 
his vaunted defences upon the river razed, his enemies' ships 
in possession of Tientsin, nothing now remained for Sangkolin- 
sin save to move his entire army nearer Peking, and there again 
meeting the invaders, endeavor to preserve the capital from 
capture. He would not there be able to shift the odium of de- 
feat on the difficulties of the river defences, while the moral 
effect would be incomparably greater if he were vanquished near 
the palace. 

The aged Kweiliang, the father-in-law of Prince Kung, was 
again directed to repair to Tientsin, where he arrived about 
August 28th. He and two others (all of them Manchus) endea- 
vored to negotiate a peace so as to prevent the allies from ad- 
vancing on Peking with their armies. Finding that they were 
trifling, Lord Elgin stopped the palaver, and started for Tung- 
chau on September Sth, the British taking the left bank and 

1 North China Campaign, pp. 158-161. 



326 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

the French keeping the southern. Near Yangtsun a new com- 
mission of higher rank reported itself, but it was rejected, and 
the army continued on its way. Further on, at Hosi-wu and 
Matau, signs of serious strife began to appear, but the commis- 
sioners assured their negotiators, Messrs. Wade and Parkes, that 
everything was or would be ready at Tungchau to conclude the 
convention. Affairs were becoming critical in the matter of 
supplies and transport, for Sangkolinsin's army prevented the 
people from safely bringing animals and making sales. The com- 
missariat, therefore, was obliged to seize what could be found 
to feed the advancing force, and this involved ransacking most 
of the towns and hamlets lying near the river between Hosi-wu 
and Tungchau. The progress of the force was, therefore, much 
slower than below Tientsin, though the possession of sixty or 
eighty small boats helped to bring on the ammunition and 
other supplies. 

On September 14th the interpreters, Messrs. Wade and Parkes, 
reached Tungchau, in order to meet Prince 1 and his colleague 
to discuss the terms for stopping the army and exchanging 
the ratifications. This interview was marked with apparent 
sincerity, and resulted in an order for the army to move for- 
ward to a place designated near the town of Changkia-wan, 
about three leagues from Tungchau, where the troops were to 
encamp. The camp broke up from Hosi-wu early on the 17th 
to carry this arrangement into effect. Mr. Parkes was again sent 
forward to Tungchau (twenty-five miles), accompanied by an es- 
cort of twenty-six Sikh and other soldiers, to inform the imperial 
commissioners, and finally arrange terms. The ground pointed 
out was reached, and seemed to be well suited for the purpose. 
At Changkia-wan the party met an officer at the head of some 
cavalry, who challenged them, but allowed all to go on to Tung- 
chau. Mr. Parkes soon met another high official in charge of a 
guard, who treated them with marked courtesy, informing 
them that he had been the general at Sinho, and let them pro- 
ceed. They were received at Tungchau and conducted through 
the town to a temple by a messenger sent from the prince. At 
one o'clock the discussions began, but instead of entering into 
the details of carrying out the agreement, difficulties were made 



OCCURRENCES AT TUJSTGCHAU. 327 

about Lord Elgin's delivering his letter of credence to the Em- 
peror. The whole afternoon was consumed in this debate, 
which probably was grounded not a little on the recent decision 
of Hienfung to leave the capital for his summer palace at 
Jeh-ho while the way was yet clear. At eventide the commis- 
sioners waived the settlement of the audience, and soon agreed 
to all the other points relating to the encampment near Chang- 
kia-wan. In the morning Mr. Parkes, Colonel Walker, and 
eleven others, leaving the rest of their party in the temple to 
await the arrival of the plenipotentiaries the next day, departed 
to view the designated encampment. Their journey was some- 
what eventful. As they reached Changkia-wan they met bodies 
of Chinese infantry going south, but no notice was taken of 
them, and the foreigners rode on to reach the appointed spot. 
In doing so they came across a body of a thousand dismounted 
horsemen concealed in a dry watercourse, or nullah^ evidently 
placed there in ambush ; while riding along in front no inter- 
ruption was made to their progress. Further on, in a small 
village, they detected a large force hidden behind the houses 
and in gardens, but still no hindrance to their advance was inter- 
posed by these men. A short distance ahead they came upon 
a masked battery of twelve guns just placed in position, from 
which they were driven away. It was now plain that Sangko- 
linsin was preparing an ambushment for the allied forces to 
enter, feeling confident, no doubt, of his success. 

Mr. Loch, who accompained Mr. Parkes thus far, was now 
designated to force his way through the Chinese troops, so as to 
meet the allied generals and tell them the state of things. Sir 
Hope Grant had already noticed some bodies of men on his 
flanks, and was preparing for them when he learned the truth ; 
but in order to give Mr. Parkes and the others a chance to es- 
cape from Tungchau, he agreed to delay two hours before opening 
upon the enemy. Mr. Loch accordingly started, in company 
with Captain Brabazon and two horsemen,to return to Tungchau. 
They reached it in a few hours and found their friends, uncon- 
scious of the danger, wandering through the town. Mr. Parkes 
had learned something of it, and called on Prince 1 at his 
quarters to claim protection ; this dignitary was in a state of 



328 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

much excitement, and said that " until the question of deliver- 
ing the letter of credence was settled there could be no peace ; 
there must be war." On returning to their temple the foreign- 
ers immediately started off in a body, but some of their horses 
were jaded, and the country was filled with moving bodies of 
troops. 

When about five miles were gone over they came on a brigade 
u£ matchlock men, and ere long an officer of rank stopped them 
from going further, but offered to accompany two of them to 
obtain from the general a pass allowing the whole party to ride 
around the Chinese army on their way back. Mr. Parkes and 
Mr. Loch and a Sikh accordingly went with him, and he bravely 
looked after their safety. Meanwhile the battle had already begun, 
as the booming cannon intimated. They had advanced only a 
few rods when the trio found themselves in the midst of a large 
body of infantry, some of .whom seized their bridles, but their 
guide rushed in, striking right and left, .and thus cleared the 
way. Ten rods in the rear they met the Chinese general, to 
whom Mr. Parkes addressed himself, pointing to the flag of 
truce and asking for a pass for the whole party to return to the 
British army. Sangkolinsin "gave a derisive laugh, and broke 
out into a torrent of abuse. He accused Parkes of being the 
cause of all the troubles and difficulties that had arisen. Not 
content with attempting to impose conditions which would have 
been derogatory to the dignity of the Emperor to accept, he 
had now brought the allied armies down to attack the imperial 
forces." This is only a part of his excited conversation with Mr. 
Parkes, as reported by Mr. Loch. They were now imprisoned, 
and ordered to be taken in an open cart with two French pris- 
oners to Tungchau, and delivered over to Prince I. The others, 
twenty-three in all, had also been made prisoners where they 
were waiting, and ere long conducted to Tungchau in charge 
<>£ a guard. 

The five in the cart reached Tungchau after Prince 1 had 
left his temple, and were therefore hurried on to Peking after 
him, but on the way were turned off near Pa-li-kiau (i.e., 
* Eight Li Bridge ') and taken to the quarters of Jinlin, a gen- 
eral then in command of the Peking gendarmerie. He ques- 



IMPRISONMENT OF PARKES AND LOCH. 329 

tioned Mr. Parkes upon the strength of the allied forces, until 
the latter ended this catechising under the torture of kneeling 
with the arms twisted behind him, by pretending to faint. 
In the afternoon, while again undergoing examination by some 
officials formerly with Prince I, they were suddenly inter- 
rupted by a commotion, and everybody ran off, leaving them 
alone. Soon a number of soldiers rushed in and bound their 
arms, w r hile they were led away to be beheaded in an outer 
court. But just as they crossed the yard a mandarin hurried 
forward, and seizing hold of the soldier, then waving his 
sword over Mr. Loch, rescued them both and hurried them 
into a cart, where the other three prisoners lay, upon which 
they immediately started for Peking by the great stone road. 
The torture and jolting of this ride over the rough causeway 
were increased by their weariness, hunger, and cramped posi- 
tion, and when they got out of the cart at the Sing Pu^ in 
Peking, they were utterly prostrated. Nevertheless, their 
misery during the ride of ten miles was transient and light 
compared w T ith what awaited them inside of the Board of Pun- 
ishments. They were there separated, heavily pinioned, and 
put with the native prisoners. Mr. Loch justly commends 
these wretched men for their sympathy, and mentions many 
little acts of kindness to him in dividing their cakes and giving 
him a special bench to sit on during the ten days he was quar- 
tered with them. He was then taken to the room w r ith Mr. 
Parkes, and they were soon driven away to a temple in the 
northern part of the city, where rooms had been fitted up for 
them. As to the party of twenty-three English and thirteen 
Frenchmen left by Parkes at his capture, they had been taken 
to Yuen-ming Yuen under a strong guard. 

Meanwhile the allied army had come up to the Chinese 
forces. These, about twenty thousand men in all, had been 
posted with considerable skill between Changkia-wan and the 
Pei ho, showing a front of nearly four miles, much of which 
was intrenched and presenting a succession of batteries. The 
battle on the 18th died away as the allies reached that town, 
having driven Sangkolinsin's troops toward Peking, captured 
eighty guns, and burned all his camps. The loss of life was 



330 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

much less among his men than at the Taku fort, for here 
none of them were chained to their guns, and were able to 
escape when their position was untenable. Changkia-wan was 
thoroughly pillaged that night by those who could get at it, 
especially the poor natives who followed the army. 

On the 21st the Chinese forces made another stand near the 
Eight Li Bridge over the Canal, from which the French dis- 
lodged them without much difficulty. The British came up on 
their flanks and drove them in upon their centre, which of 
course soon resulted in a general dispersion. The artillery 
opened up at long range ; the cavalry riding in upon the 
Chinese horsemen, easily scattered them, often burning the 
separate camps before returning. The contest at the bridge 
was the most serious, and their loss here was estimated at three 
hundred ; on the whole field it probably did not exceed iive 
hundred, for neither their cavalry nor infantry often presented 
a solid front. The entire losses of the allies were less than 
fifty killed and wounded. Nothing interposed now between 
them and Peking, but they delayed to move until October 
3d, when their entire force had come up, siege guns and 
commissary stores included. Full knowledge had been ob- 
tained of the environs of Peking, and negotiations had been 
going on respecting the return of the prisoners as a preliminary 
to the close of hostilities. These were now conducted with 
Prince Kung, the next younger brother of the Emperor, who 
was himself by this time safe at Jeh-ho. 

On October 6th Lord Elgin and the generals were settled 
in the spacious quarters of the Hwang sz', a lamasary 
near the northwest gate of Peking, and their army occupied 
much of the open spaces between it and the city. On that day, 
the outposts of the French army and some of the British cav- 
alry reached the great cantonment of Hai-tien (where the 
Manchu garrison of Peking was quartered) and the palace of 
Yuen-ming Yuen near by. This was soon pillaged under cir- 
cumstances and in a barbarously wasteful manner which will 
reflect lasting obloquy upon General Montaubon, who, more 



PILLAGE OF YUEN-MING YUEN. 331 

than any other person, could have interposed to save the im- 
mense and precious collection of objects illustrating Chinese 
art, architecture, and literature. Lord Elgin's journal gives his 
view of this act in a few words : 

October 7th, 5 o'clock p. m. —I have just returned from the Summer Pal- 
ace. It is really a fine thing, like an English park — numberless buildings 
with handsome rooms, filled with Chinese curios, handsome clocks, bronzes, 
etc. But alas ! such a scene of desolation. The French general came up, 
full of protestations. He had prevented looting in order that all the plunder 
might be divided between the armies, etc. There was not a room that I saw 
in which half the things had not been taken away or broken to pieces. I 
tried to get a regiment of ours sent to guard the place, and then sell the things 
by auction ; but it is difficult to get things done by system in such a case, so 
some of the officers are left [there], who are to fill two or three carts with 
treasures, which are to be sold. Plundering and devastating a place like this 
is bad enough, but the waste and breakage are much worse. Out of a million 
pounds' worth of property, I daresay fifty thousand pounds will not be real- 
ized. French soldiers were destroying in every way the most beautiful silks, 
breaking the jade ornaments and porcelain, etc. War is a hateful business. 
The more one sees of it the more one detests it. l 

Mr. Swinhoe's account of one room in this palace has now a 
historical interest — but his description must be condensed : 

Facing the gate (he says) stood the grand reception hall, well adorned out- 
side, and netted with copper wire under the fretted eaves to keep off the birds. 
Entering it we found ourselves on a marble floor in front of the Emperor's 
ebony throne ; this was adorned with carved dragons in various attitudes ; its 
floor was covered with light red cloth, and three low series of steps led up to 
it, on the central and widest of which his subjects made the kotow. The left 
side of the hall was adorned with a picture representing the grounds of the 
palace, and the side tables contained books in yellow binding and ornaments. 
There was somehow an air of reverence throughout this simple but neat hall. 
On an audience day the Emperor here seated himself attired in a yellow robe 
wrought with dragons in gold thread, his head surmounted with a spherical 
crown of gold and precious stones with pearl drops suspended around by light 
gold chains. Eunuchs and ministers in court costume kneel on each side in 
long lines, and the guard and musicians are arranged in the outer court. The 
name of the person to be introduced is called out, and as he approaches the 
band strikes up. He draws near the " Dragon's Seat " and kneels before the 
central step, removes his hat, placing it on the throne floor with the peacock's 
feather toward the imperial donor. His Majesty moves his hand and down 
goes the head, striking on the step three times three. The head is then raised, 
but with downcast eyes the man hears the behests of his great master. When 

1 Mgin'a Letters, p. 361. 



332 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

the voice ceases, again the head makes the nine knocks, thus acknowledging 
the sovereign right, and the man withdraws. How different the scene now, 
adds Mr. Swinhoe. The hall filled with crowds of a foreign soldiery, and the 
throne floor covered with the Celestial Emperor's choicest curios, destined as 
gifts for two far more worthy monarchs. " See here," said General Montaubon, 
pointing to them, ' ' I have had a few of the most brilliant things selected to 
be divided between the Queen of Great Britain and the Emperor of the 
French." 1 

On the following day — October 8th — the commanders were 
greatly relieved by the return of Parkes, Loch, d'Escayrac de 
Lauture, and five soldiers; the first two of these gentlemen had 
been comparatively well treated after their terrible experiences 
within the Hing Pu. A few days later both armies were horri- 
fied by the appearance in camp of eleven wretched men — all who 
had survived from the party of French and English made pris- 
oners near Tungchau; Anderson, Bowlby, de Norman, and 
others had succumbed to the dreadful tortures caused by the 
cords which bound them. The coffined bodies were all brought 
to camp within a few days, hardly recognizable from the effects 
of lime thrown upon them. On the 16th occurred the impres- 
sive ceremony of their interment in the Russian cemetery near 
Peking, Lord Elgin, Sir Hope Grant, Parkes, and Loch being 
chief mourners, while a deputation from every regiment in the 
allied armies followed in the train. 

Two days after this Lord Elgin ordered the destruction of the 
palace of Yuen-ming Yuen ; a sudden though deliberate act. 
Feeling probably that such a decision would be closely criticised 
by those who were far removed in time and place from the excit- 
ing scenes around him, he took occasion to review his position 
in a long despatch. It was impossible in his situation to learn 
whether the responsibility for the capture and savage treatment 
of these men rested with the same Chinese officials. 2 This 

1 Swinhoe, North China Campaign, pp. 294 ff . — the most detailed and inter- 
esting account of this palace and its destruction. Compare M. C. Lavallee in 
the Revue des Deux Mondes for August 1, 1865. Other French writers on this 
war are Lieutenant de vaisseau Pallu, Relation de ^expedition de Chine, Paris, 
1863; le Comte d'Escayrac de Lauture, Memoires sur la Chine, Paris, 1864; 
Sinnebaldo de Mas, La Chine et les puissances chretiennes, 1861. 

- Probably not. The prisoners were in the hands of lictors whose habit it 
was to torture in the hope of extorting money on their own account. The 



DESTRUCTION OF THE SUMMER PALACE. 333 

much, nevertheless, was plain — that the Chinese were fully 
aware of the obligations of a flag of truce, inasmuch as they 
had already often availed themselves of its privileges. Lord 
Elgin makes the Emperor personally responsible for the crimes 
which had been committed, but specifies Sangkolinsin as the 
real culprit. He then says : 

I had reason to believe that it was an act which, was calculated to produce a 
greater effect in China and on the Emperor than persons who look on from 
a distance may suppose. It was the Emperor's favorite residence, and its 
destruction could not fail to be a blow to his pride as well as to his feelings. 
To this place he brought our hapless countrymen, in order that they might 
undergo their severest tortures within its precincts. Here have been found 
the horses and accoutrements of the troopers seized, the decorations torn from 
the breast of a gallant French officer, and other effects belonging to the 
prisoners. As almost all the valuables had already been taken from the 
palace, the army would go there, not to pillage, but to mark, by a solemn act 
of retribution, the horror and indignation with which we were inspired by the 
perpetration of a great crime. The punishment was one which would fall, 
not on the people, who may be comparatively innocent, but exclusively on the 
Emperor, whose direct personal responsibility for the crime committed is es- 
tablished, not only by the treatment of the prisoners at Yuen-ming Yuen, 
but also by the edict in which he offered a pecuniary reward for the 
heads of the foreigners. 1 

The work of destruction left hardly a trace of the palace of 
the " Round-bright Garden ; " indeed, the provocation for this 
act was great. The despatch refers only to the palace where 
Hienfung spent most of his time, and it is probable that Lord 
Elgin intended to burn that alone. He gave no orders for the 
destruction of the buildings on Wan-shao shan, Yuh-tsien shan, 
the Imperial Park near Pih-yun sz', and other places five to ten 
miles distant. All of these residences or villas had been erected 
or enlarged by former Emperors of the present dynasty ; none 
have since been rebuilt. It is, nevertheless, easy to gather from 
Colonel "Wolseley's record that his lordship's satisfaction in this 

candid spirit of Loch's narrative is wanting in the more colored accounts of 
Wolseley and Swinhoe, written in the flush of victory. The charges they 
make against Prince I of treachery toward Mr. Parkes are not borne out; the 
deaths of Captain Brabazon and the Abbe de Luc seem to have been by order 
of Pao, and not from Sangkolinsin. Compare an article in the Revue des Deux 
Mondes (15 juillet, 1865) by C. Lavallee, V Expedition anglo-franpaise en Chine 
1 Elgin's Letters and Journals, p. 366. 



334 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

" retribution" was not greatly impaired by its over-zealous per- 
formance on the part of the troops. In addition to the loss of 
the palaces, the Chinese had to pay £100,000 as indemnity to 
be given to the prisoners and their families, before the victors 
would consent to sign the convocation. 

On the 13th the ultimatum had been accepted by Prince 
Kung, who about two hours before noon opened the An-ting or 
northeast gate of Peking, which commanded the whole city. 
Arrangements were gradually completed for the grand entry of 
the plenipotentiaries into Peking. The LI Pu, or Board of 
Kites, was selected as the place for exchanging the ratifications 
of the treaty of Tientsin and signing the convention, while the 
fu, or palace of Prince I, had been chosen for Lord Elgin's resi- 
dence in the city. On October 24th the latter was escorted to 
both these places by many officers, together with a body of four 
hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry, while in all the streets 
leading to them were guards placed. The whole city was out to 
witness the unusual parade. The procession passed slowly through 
the wide avenues, the music of the band heralding its approach to 
the dignitaries anxiously awaiting the arrival. The utmost care 
had been taken that no excuse should be ever after brought for- 
ward that the Emperor had not assented to the two documents 
signed that day ; but much besides was done to show Prince 
Kung and his officers that they were in the presence of their 
conquerors. 

The following day Baron Gros signed his convention and ex- 
changed the ratifications of the French treaty under similar 
formalities. The principal points in the British convention of 
nine articles were — the payment of eight million taels ; the per- 
mission given by imperial sanction for the emigration at will of 
Chinese subjects as contract laborers or otherwise ; the cession 
of Kowlung to the crown as part of the colony of Hongkong. 

Without delaying for additional comment, the insertion here 
of a portion of Lord John Russell's despatch to Lord Elgin will 
not be uninteresting in connection with these treaties. His 
lordship's document reads like the balance-sheet of a London 
merchant at the termination of some successful adventure : 
"The Convention is entirely satisfactory to Her Majesty's 



THE TREATIES SIGNED AT PER TNG. 335 

Government. It records the reparation made by the Emperor 
of China for his disregard in the previous year of his treaty 
engagements ; it sets Her Majesty's government free from an 
implied engagement not to insist in all particulars on the ful- 
filment of those engagements; it imposes upon China a fine 
in the shape of an augmented rate of indemnity ; it affords an 
additional opening for British trade ; it places on a recognized 
footing the emigration of Chinese coolies, whose services are so 
important to Her Majesty's colonial possessions ; it relieves Her 
Majesty's colony of Hongkong from a source of previous 
annoyance." 1 

The French convention of ten articles contained like de- 
mands and rewards, but instead of a slice of territory, the sixth 
provided that Roman Catholic Christians should be indemnified 
for " all such churches, schools, cemeteries, lands, and buildings 
as were owned on former occasions by persecuted Christians, 
and the money handed to the French representative at Peking 
for transmission to the Christians in the localities concerned." 
The fulfilment of this article required over ten years ; and as 
the injuries had been done in some cases as far back as the reign 
of Louis XIII., great irritation was aroused in the minds of the 
natives who had for generations been quietly in possession of 
lands which they had purchased. 3 

The great objects of the expedition were now attained, and 
foreign nations could congratulate themselves upon having set- 
tled their representatives in the Chinese capital on terms of 
equality. Two fu, or palaces, were immediately occupied by 



144 The practical result was not very great," concludes Mr. McCarthy. 
" Perhaps the most important gain to Europe was the knowledge that Peking 
was by no means so large a city as we had all imagined it to be. . . . There 
is some comfort in knowing that so much blood was not spilt wholly in vain." 
— A History of Our Own Times, Chap. XLII., Vol. III. 

2 An instance is mentioned in No. IV. of the Journal of the N. G. Br. R. A. 
Soc, 1867, pp. 21-33, where a Roman Catholic church at Hangchau, which 
had been confiscated by the Emperor Yungching (about 1730), was changed 
into a temple dedicated to Tien Hao, the Queen of Heaven, "to serve the 
double purpose of extirpating a religion of false gossip and obduracy, and of 
making an offering to a spirit who really has a beneficial influence over human 
destinies. " 



HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

those from Great Britain and France. Subsequently, the min- 
isters from other countries have grouped themselves around 
these, and a foreign quarter has gradually grown up in the 
south-eastern part of the city. The chief agents in this impor- 
tant opening, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, were well fitted by 
their urbanity, philanthropy, and moderation for the delicate 
task assigned them. The terrified officials and citizens in 
Peking had expected the worst consequences on the capture of 
their city, but besides the destruction of Yuen-ming Yuen, their 
capital and national unity escaped uninjured. 

It was probably a great aid to the policy adopted by Prince 
Kung and his colleagues that the Emperor and his court had 
fled to Jeh-ho, for their influence, as the sequel proved, would 
have opposed any pacification. It was still more important for 
all future co-operation that he never came back at all, and thus 
the real guidance of affairs fell into better hands. 

The 24th day of October saw the ending of the seclusion of 
the Chinese from their fellow-men ; the contest honestly enough 
begun in 1839 by Lin, to rescue his country from the curse of 
opium, was in a manner completed on that day by the admission 
of those regenerating influences which could alone effectually re- 
move that evil. The intermediate twenty years had done much 
to prepare the Chinese for this concluding act ; and the hon- 
orable manner in which they fulfilled their promises and 
payments will stand as a lasting monument to their national 
credit. 

The retirement of the allies from Peking was accomplished 
without impediment from the Chinese army under Sangkolin- 
sin ; the money disbursed for boats, carts, supplies, fuel, etc., 
as the troops went down the river, compensating many natives 
for their losses. By the end of November all had embarked 
except the garrisons left at Tientsin and Taku, which latter 
were removed as soon as the portion of the indemnity involving 
their occupation was paid up. The effectual and salutary work- 
ing of the treaty stipulations for the mutual welfare of all par- 
ties depended on the diplomatic and consular offices left in the 
capital and open ports. The British government alone was 
adequately supplied in this respect, and their consulates became 



OBJECTS OF THE WAR ACCOMPLISHED. 337 

the expositors to the local rulers of the manner in which the 
treaties were to be interpreted and enforced. The great mass 
of natives knew almost nothing of their provisions, and looked 
upon the struggle chiefly as one between their sovereign and 
the foreigners. The defeat of the latter was in remoter dis- 
tricts declared proven by their retirement from Peking; but 
along the coasts and up the Yangtsz' the actual sight of steam- 
ers and contact with foreigners who could talk with them and 
explain the new state of things, really did more than anything 
else to show them that these strangers were by no means over- 
come. "What was thus achieved to enlighten the people near 
the trading marts only required time and contact to spread into 
distant regions of the interior. As for the citizens of Peking, 
they met only those foreigners who could talk with them, for 
that city was not open to trade ; and thus one prolific source of 
misunderstanding was removed. The death of the Emperor 
Hienfung (August 17, 1861) relieved them, too, from any attempt 
he might have made, in his irritation on returning to the Forbid- 
den City and seeing his ruined palaces, to vent his wrath on the 
few foreigners then living near him. Christian missionaries 
also began their work in 1861, and thus thousands, who had had 
only vague ideas about the " barbarians," could easily learn the 
truth concerning them. Most fortunately, then, circumstances 
were from the first favorable for forming an intelligent public 
opinion in the capital. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE" ADMINISTRATION OP THE EMPRESSES. 

Twelve months elapsed before the political atmosphere of 
China was disturbed by any break or change in its condition — a 
period of quiet which the government sorely needed for an 
appreciation of its relations with the foreigners who had forced 
their way into the capital. His Majesty Hienfung having 
ascended the Dragon Throne on high, left the Empire in the 
hands of his only son, a child six years old ; whether through 
incapacity or disease, the debauched sovereign had long before 
his death allowed his courtiers to engross the reins of govern- 
ment, and these now formed a coterie whicli at Jeh-ho was all- 
powerful. At his death the administration rested in the hands 
of a council of eight, whose nominal head was Tsai-yuen, Prince 
1, a member of the imperial family belonging to the same gener- 
ation with the infant Emperor. The design of this cabal was to 
at once assume the absolute power of a regency, to retain pos- 
session of the young Emperor's person at Jeh-ho, to make way 
in secret with his mother and the Empress-dowager, and lastly 
to arrest and destroy his father's three brothers ; these initia- 
tory steps to sovereignty being accomplished, nothing would 
interrupt their complete mastery of the government. 

But in Prince Kung, 1 the Emperor's oldest surviving brother, 

'Kung Tsin-wang, 'Prince Respect' — called by the people Wu-ako, 'Fifth 
Elder Brother ' — is the sixth son of Taukwang, and was born about 1831. 
Three older brothers died young ; Hienfung, the fourth, succeeded his father, 
while the fifth, being adopted into a branch of the Emperor Kiaking's family, 
was dropped out of Taukwang's household, leaving Prince Kung in 1861 to 
be the first prince during the minority of Tungchi. His personal name, Yih-hii, 
is never employed by those outside his immediate family. He has a com- 
mendable record for an Asiatic statesman trained in habits of autocratic com- 
mand. The background in the portrait on the opposite page is a bit of rock- 
work in the Foreign Office at Peking. 



THE COUP D'ETAT OF PEINCE KU}G. 339 

the conspirators found an opponent of no ordinary ability, to 
whose astuteness in outwitting their machinations (as may be 
safely affirmed in view of events which followed) is doubtless 
owing the continuance of the* present reigning family. The 
prince was in concealment during the autumn of 1SG0, when 
his brother fled to Jeh-ho, but appearing when the capital was 
surrendered to the allies, he bore the brunt of that unpleasant 
task, signing the treaties, and undertook almost alone the man- 
agement of affairs with foreigners while the government was 
recovering from its paralysis of defeat. It was a happy augury 
for the continuance of peace and friendly intercourse that to a 
man so well fitted by temperament for his difficult position 
should be joined the able and experienced statesman Kweiliang ; 
though too old to take an active part in the settlement of the 
succession, this skilful diplomatist lent the greatest aid to his 
son-in-law by giving advice and a much needed support to the 
Empresses-dowager at this critical period* 

Hastily quitting Jeh-ho with the boy — who had been pro- 
claimed Emperor under the reign-nanie of Ki-tsiang, 'Lucky 
Omen ' — the two Empresses availed themselves of their right to 
join the first prince, and repaired to Peking. Once settled in 
the Forbidden City they were able to impart to Prince Kung 
the magnitude of the plot against them, and concert measures 
with leading members of the imperial clan for the general 
safety. The arrest and trial of the traitors was promptly car- 
ried out ; by a decree of December 2, 1861, Prince 1 and his 
principal coadjutor, Prince Chin, were allowed to commit 
suicide, while their powerful and clever colleague, Suhshun, was 
executed in the market-place, to the unfeigned delight of the 
populace. This conspirator in his machinations. and gross as- 
sumptions had acted like a veritable Tigellinus, and earned for 
himself a hatred and contempt which even members of the war 
party could not conceal. Others of this unsuccessful clique 
were disgraced or banished, but the punishments were not 
numerous or barbarous. The reign-name w T as now changed 
from Ki-tsiang to Tung-chi, or ' Union Pule,' to mark the suc- 
cessful demolition of this conspiracy, while Prince Kung (now 
but thirty years old), the shrewd perpetrator of the coup dFelat, 



340 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

was proclaimed I-cAing-wang, or ' Regent Prince,' and with the 
Empresses constituted the regency during the minority. 1 

Considering all the circumstances of this palace intrigue, the 
rank of- its leading members, and its successful suppression by 
the operation of legal methods alone, it may well deserve the 
attention of those interested in the political and historical 
development of China as an admirable instance of both the 
strength and weakness of her paternal government. To the 
ordinary outlays of the Empire were superadded the immense 
burdens of a foreign invasion just concluded and a terrible 
struggle with domestic enemies ; yet neither the Regent nor his 
colleagues appear during this period of stress to have lost a 
particle of their confidence in the loyalty of the people ; through 
loss and gain, failure of material or resource, treachery in palace 
or camp, abuse or assistance from foreigners, this faith in one 
another failed not. The face of China in 1865 was perhaps as 
wretched as that of Central Europe after the peace of West- 
phalia ; indeed a more general desolation could hardly be imag- 
ined. Nevertheless the rapidity with which its inhabitants not 
only resumed their occupations as best they could but rebuilt 
dwellings and reorganized trade, startled even their habitual 
disparagers into praise and testified to the marvellous recuper- 
ative powers of this much-despised civilization. 

Pleased with the excellent results of the introduction of 
western drill and arms into their military service, as* against 
the Tai-pings, certain of the mandarins at the south proposed 
utilizing foreign war- vessels to the same end. To this scheme 
as at first suggested there was not, perhaps, much to say either 
in its behalf or otherwise. Their purpose was to purchase three 
or four gun and despatch boats, man them with as many scores 
of native seamen, and impart to these the necessary instruction 
by placing them under foreign officers. Mr. Horatio N. Lay 
had in 1856 proposed the use of armed revenue vessels in the 
customs service, a very similar suggestion. But innocent as 
were these conceptions, they assumed the gravest proportions 

1 Journal N. C. Br. R. A. S. t December, 1864, pp. 110-114. Dr. Remiie, 
Peking and the Pekingese, Vol. II., passim— an interesting contemporary record 
of this event. 



THE LAY-OSBOEXE FLOTILLA. 341 

when in 1861 Mr. Lay was allowed to visit England and there con- 
tract for the construction of a steam fleet and secure a number 
of British naval officers for three years' service. 1 The Peking 
authorities were still laboring under the disadvantages of their 
ignorance, and nothing can illustrate better than this remarkable 
enterprise the good influence which Sir Frederick Bruce had 
acquired in their counsels, and their willingness to follow his 
suggestions. Their secluded life in Peking had prevented them 
from learning many things in respect to the conduct of affairs 
in their new relations, but they could hardly have had a better 
counsellor than he. The instructions from Prince Kung sent to 
Mr. Lay in England described the kind of officers and hands 
which the vessels were to carry ; they were to be men able and 
willing to teach ignorant sailors the practice of navigation, the 
management of machinery, and the use of guns of every kind. 
Instead of these he contracted for eight gunboats of different 
sizes, one or two of them powerful vessels, able to carry two 
hundred and more men ; they arrived in China early in 1863 
under the command of Capt. Sherard Osborne, It. X. Mr. 
Lay's disappointment was great and undisguised when, on reach- 
ing Peking in June, he found that Prince Kung and his ad- 
visers were totally unprepared for such a fleet, and unwilling to 
endorse the engagements he had entered into with the Queen's 
officers ; nor were the funds for their current expenses provided. 
His ideas of his own position were soon modified, for he found 
that the vessels must necessarily be placed under the direction 
of the provincial authorities in operations against the rebels. 
One of the articles in the agreement with Captain Osborne stipu- 
lated that he should receive all his orders on those matters from 
the Foreign Office through Mr. Lay, and would follow his own 
choice in obeying others. Mr. Lay says himself that he was 
" ambitious of obtaining the position of middle-man between 
China and the foreign powers, because I thought I saw a way of 
solving the problem of placing pacific relations with China upon 
a sure footing. . . . My position was that of a foreigner en- 
gaged by the Chinese government to perform certain work for 

1 Blue Booh, China, No. 2 (1864), p. 7. 



342 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

them, not under them. I need scarcely observe, in passing, 
that the notion of a gentleman acting under an Asiatic barbarian 
is preposterous." x Ideas like these quite unfitted him for work- 
ing with the Chinese, either under or for them. He could not 
understand that the former days of coercion and bullying had 
passed away, and that time must be allowed for them to gradu- 
ally learn in their own way how to rise in the scale of nations, 
and adopt such improvements as they pleased. 

In his perplexity and chagrin, he began to blame the British 
minister for lukewarmness in supporting his schemes, and to 
weary the members of the Tsung-li Yamun by his demands. 
The controversy continued to grow warmer after Captain 
Osborne's arrival at Peking in September, where he first learned 
its real nature. Finally, in October, Prince Ivung refused to 
ratify Mr. Lay's agreement made in England, very properly 
remarking upon the obnoxious article which required the com- 
mander of the flotilla to act only under orders from Peking. 
Happily for China, the dissolution of the force was decided on. 
The ships were to be sent back, for it was impossible to pre- 
vent the native officials from selling them after they had full 
control, and persons were already looking at them for their own 
lawless designs. At this juncture Sir F. Bruce came to the re- 
lief of the Chinese, and took the ships off their hands on 
account of the British government, paying back from the in- 
demnity fund due to England all claims for wages, salary, and 
other expenses to officers and men till their arrival in London. 
This settlement involved an outlay of about $525,000, but the 
total cost of the vessels, crews, and outfit from first to last was 
not much less than a million sterling. The Peking govern- 
ment had, therefore, by this arrangement escaped a serious 
imbroglio with the provincial governors and generals — one 
which would have soon neutralized all responsibility, and per- 
chance, even at that late date, entailed the success of the 
Tai-pings. 

Mr. Lay, blinded by his own egotism and ambition, ascribes 
his failure to the negligence, treachery, ignorance, and ill-will 

1 Our Interests in China : A Letter to Earl Russell, p. 19. 



COLLAPSE OF THE SCHEME. 343 

of Sir F. Bruce, whose performances in these lines are fully 
detailed in his Letter to Earl Russell 1 of November 26, 1864. 
This statement of what occurred in relation to the Lay-Osborne 
flotilla exhibits the difficulties in the progress of Asiatic nations 
in the path of what we call civilization, and the ideas which 
such men have as to the way in which they are to be forced 
into this desirable condition. This extraordinary paper is an 
instructive exhibition of British interference in the administra- 
tion of Asiatic countries, and how totally alien " the spirit of 
trade and progress " is to the independence and elevation of a 
pagan people when it alone is the chief agency depended on. 
In no case, nor under the best control, could Mr. Lay's plan 
have worked real benefit to China ; but carried out under the 
domineering leadership of such a man, the scheme would have 
not only been humiliating in the last degree to those whom it 
was designed to assist, but would have inevitably resulted in 
the restoration of the conservative party to power and another 
profitless struggle with the foreigners. 

Upon the dismissal of Mr. Lay the management of the Impe- 
rial Maritime Customs was placed in the hands of Robert Hart, 
Esq., who for a period of two years had given proof of his dis- 
cretion in this position, and (in the words of Mr. Burlingame) 
had " by his tact and ability won the regard of every one." 
Already the imperial officers began to appreciate the immense 
material advantages of a regular income from the open ports, 
especially in the practical help it furnished toward the expenses 
of the dying rebellion. The contact of native and foreign 
rule in the same territory necessarily involved much assumption 
of power and friction of authority growing out of the undefined 
limits of the laws of ex- territoriality ; but the legitimate work- 
ing of treaty provisions — the prompt reference of grievances 
from complainant to consul, from the consul to his minister at 
Peking — served to enlighten court and country as to the gen- 

v Our Interests in China, by H. N. Lay, C.B., London, 1864, pp. 66. See 
also correspondence in Blue Book, and letter of Sir F. Bruce, of November 19, 
1863. U. 8. Diplomatic Correspondence for 1864, Part III., pp. 348-378 ; and 
for 1865, Part L, p. 670. A. Wilson, The " Ever- Victorious Army," pp. 260- 
266. Fraser*s Magazine, February, 1865, p. 147. 



344 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

eral honesty of their quondam enemies, in a fashion which 
neither preaching nor fighting could ever have accomplished. 1 
In the year 1866 the arsenals at Fuhchau, Nanking, and Shang- 
hai were reorganized and made to include schools for naval and 
military instruction as well as engine and gun works ; the value 
of such works was promptly understood by the Chinese, and 
has been already the source of a creditable navy. 2 

The retirement of the Hon. Anson Burlingame from the posi- 
tion of United States minister in November, 1867, furnished to 
the Chinese government both an admirable agent and opportu- 
nity for an initial step in establishing diplomatic intercourse 
with the treaty powers. Into the hands of this gentleman was 
placed the charge of a general mission to those governments, 
there being added two co-ordinate Chinese ministers, an English 
and French secretary, and six students from the Tung-wan 
Kwan at Peking. The three ministers were appointed Impe- 
rial Envoys and furnished with a letter of credence to eleven 
governments. The party left Shanghai February 25, 1868, 
for San Francisco, which port they reached about a month 
later. Few persons can now appreciate the excitement and 
discussion in China and elsewhere caused by this first diplo- 
matic effort of the imperial government to take its place among 
the family of nations. Mr. Burlingame, naturally hopeful and 
enthusiastic, described his mission as an earnest of future peace- 
ful relations with the Middle Kingdom. Wherever he went he 
elevated the estimate held of that ancient land by his hearers, 
and urged the European courts to but wait in patience until its 
backward people might be prepared for the changes it wished 
to adopt. Those changes and improvements were only to be 

1 The trial and condemnation of an American, who was hnng at Shanghai in 
1864 for the murder of two Chinese, tended to repress lawlessness on the part 
of foreigners and assure the native rulers of their earnest co-operation in bring- 
ing the guilty to punishment. The enlightened and friendly action of Prince 
Kung in issuing a proclamation, at request of Mr. Burlingame, against allowing 
any American Confederate cruisers to enter Chinese waters, was warmly ap- 
preciated by this and the other treaty powers as an interesting testimonial of 
the genuine friendship which was already disarming fear. 

2 Compare Captain Bridge, TJie Warlike Power of China, in Frasefs Magazine, 
Vol. 99, pp. 778 ff. 



THE BURLINGAME MISSION. 345 

adopted when China had become convinced of their need and 
practicability ; but many of Mr. Burlingame's hearers were 
both more eager and more ambitious than he, regarding the 
introduction of railroads, telegraphs, and steamers as opening 
an enormous field for their own immediate activity and gain. 
The consequent indignation among foreign merchants in China 
and at home upon learning the extent of his exaggeration was 
universal; the British merchants especially representing in 
strong terms the evil consequences of such " baseless expecta- 
tions." The different points of view of the two parties will ac- 
count for their opposite opinions. On the one side, the mer- 
chants were vexed that their hopes of a general trade arising 
all over China, as a result of the treaties of Tientsin, were likely 
to be disappointed, owing to the increasing attention of native 
traders in their own internal and external commerce to the ex- 
clusion of foreigners ; while on the other, Mr. Burlingame laid 
great stress on those things which the Chinese government de- 
sired and intended to do as they became more and more quali- 
fied to act for themselves, through the agencies and institutions 
which they were inaugurating. The merchants seemed to 
think that nothing had as yet been accomplished in the direction 
of " progress," inasmuch as their personal expectations of an 
instant and lucrative trade were not realized ; in reply to Mr. 
Burlingame's " enthusiastic fictions," they called for " tangible 
evidence of the existence of this spirit which he celebrates so 
loudly — some tittle of proof to support his sweeping theory." 1 
Without dwelling further upon these discussions, it pertains 
to the present narrative to briefly point out the two salient 
features of China's initial attempt to knock at the doors of 

1 See the letters to the Daily JVews of J. Barr Robertson, of Shanghai, 
which have been taken as a fairly characteristic specimen of the mercantile 
and political view. An article by the same gentleman in the Westminster 
Review for January, 1870, is rather calmer in language. Other data and 
opinions may be gathered from a work filling 890 pages, by the late J. von 
Gumpach, entitled The Burlingame Mission: A Political Disclosure, etc., 
1872. Compare also the English newspapers issued in Shanghai and Hong- 
kong in 1867-70; British Parliamentay Papers ; U. 8. Ex. Doc, Foreign 
Relations, 1868-71 ; Harper's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXXVII., p. 592 ; 
The Galaxy, Vol. VI., p. 613. 



346 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

other nations. Of these the first may be described as wholly 
sentimental ; but it was the healthy sentiment of justice and 
good feeling toward a distant and unknown community, which 
Mr. Burlingame's tact and ability called forth in behalf of his 
clients' cause from their recent conquerors. During the years 
1868 and 1869 he spoke for the right and privilege of the 
Chinese to manage their own affairs, and in America, England, 
France,. Prussia, and other countries had already created a more 
healthy feeling of forbearance toward them, when his sudden 
death at St. Petersburg (February, 1870) cut short the complete 
achievement of his mission. 1 

In the United States the passage of this embassy might have- 
made but a transient impression had it not negotiated a treat}' 
of eight articles (July 28, 1868), regarded as an integral part 
of the Peed treaty of ten years previous. This, the second 
feature of the mission, has been attended with consequences 
whose influence does not yet appear to have ceased. Owing to 
the surprise of the Chinese government, which had given no 
express instructions as to treaty-making, the Foreign Office was 
somewhat tardy in ratifying this compact. This was, however, 
done in the following year. Its fifth article provides that the 
contracting powers "cordially recognize the inherent and in- 
alienable right of man to change his home and allegiance, and 
also the mutual advantage of the free migration and emigration 
of their citizens and subjects respectively from the one country 
to the other for the purposes of curiosity, or trade, or as per- 
manent residents. The high contracting parties therefore join 
in reprobating any other than an entirely voluntary emigration 
for these purposes." At this time the British and French 
ministers had recently agreed to a convention with Prince Kung 
respecting the conduct of the coolie trade in accordance with the 
stipulations made at Peking in October, 1860. The draft of 
those regulations had been submitted to the American as well as 
all other foreign legations, but only the Spanish treaty contained 

1 His colleagues, Chi-kang and Sun Kia-kii, afterward visited Italy, Spain, 
and other countries, returning to China within the same year. Neither of 
them was, however, brought forward at the capital as an adviser in relation to 
foreign affairs. 



ITS TEEATY BETWEEN CHINA AND AMEBIC A. 347 

an article allowing the engagement of Chinese laborers in their 
own country for service abroad. This traffic had become so in- 
famous from the cruelties and wrongs perpetrated on the coolies, 
both in China before they embarked and in Cuba and Peru 
after they had landed, that the American Congress had already 
passed laws against it ; and this article was drawn up almost 
wholly with reference to that trade, and to show the abhorrence 
with which it was regarded. Chinese immigrants had come 
to San Francisco to the number of fifty- three thousand since 
1855, and had been harshly treated by the miners and others 
in their common struggle for gold ; the Burlingame treaty 
simply acknowledged their right to immigrate like other 
foreigners. 1 

Meantime at Peking the foreign ambassadors were in the way 
of learning that in their relations with the government to which 
they were accredited they had to deal with men of acute minds, 
whose prejudices and conservatism only needed enlightening to 
bring them quite upon a level with any other body of intelli- 
gent diplomatists. It was indeed a crucial period with Prince 
Kung and his coadjutors of the Tsung-li Yamnn — Wansiang, 
Tung Siun, Tan Ting-siang, Hang-ki — who were placed between 
the two great pressures of a warped and bigoted multitude of 
literati wedded to the old regime and the ministers of the out- 
side powers, themselves dwelling complacently in the imperial 
city and representing armies and navies which had been found 
invincible. The pride of the "Celestial" was necessarily 
brought low, but the situation was accepted, on the whole, 
both wisely and cautiously ; the good fortune of having men of 
the kindness and honor of Bruce, Ylangali, Berthemy, and Bur- 
lingame as heads of the four chief legations, can hardly be ex- 
aggerated in its encouraging and healthful effects upon the im- 
pression taking root in the minds of Chinese officers. 

At this juncture occurred the massacre at Tientsin of twenty 

J But notwithstanding its acceptance of their "inalienable right" to freely 
change their residence, the clamor against this admission was afterward so 
great among the people on the Pacific coast that a special embassy of three 
commissioners was sent to Peking in 1880, which relegated the right of ad- 
mitting Chinese as immigrants into American territory entirely to Congress. 



348 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

French and Eussians and destruction of the French consulate, 
cathedral, and orphanage, by a mob on June 21, 1870, attended 
by circumstances of great atrocity. The event was a severe 
blow as well to the anxious mandarins at the capital as to 
every honest friend of the new order of things throughout the 
Empire. The Peking authorities were slow at first in opening 
an investigation, but testified to their earnestness and righteous 
indignation at the enormity in disposing troops about the capi- 
tal and summarily examining the criminals, so that by the end 
of a month every fear of a general emeute had vanished. 

The causes which led to this outbreak appear to have been 
almost wholly local, taking their rise in the year 1861, when 
the French occupied as their consulate a temple in Tientsin, 
where in former times the citizens used to promenade ; this and 
other unpopular acts kept the natives at enmity with them. 
A more especial account of the most important of these is 
contained in Mr. Low's despatch of June 27th : " At many, 
of the principal places in China open to foreign residence, the 
Sisters of Charity have established institutions, each of which 
appears to combine in itself a foundling hospital and orphan 
asylum. Finding that the Chinese were averse to placing chil- 
dren in their charge, the managers of these institutions offered 
a certain sum per head for all the children placed under their 
control given to them, it being understood that a child once in 
their asylum no parent, relative, or guardian could claim or ex- 
ercise any control over it. It has been for some time asserted 
by the Chinese, and believed by most of the non-Catholic for- 
eigners residing here, that the system of paying bounties in- 
duced the kidnapping of children for these institutions for the 
sake of the reward. It is also asserted that the priests or Sis- 
ters, or both, have been in the habit of holding out induce- 
ments to have children brought to them in the last stages of ill- 
ness, for the purpose of being baptized in articulo mortis. In 
this way many children have been taken to these establish- 
ments in the last stages of disease, baptized there, and soon 
after taken away dead. All these acts, together with the 
secrecy and seclusion which appear to be a part and parcel of 
the regulations which govern institutions of this character 



THE TIENTSIN MASSACRE. 349 

everywhere, have created suspicions in the minds of the Chi- 
nese, and these suspicions have engendered an intense hatred 
against the Sisters on the part of all the common people who 
live anywhere near a mission ; and any rumor concerning the 
Sisters or their acts, however improbable or absurd, found thou- 
sands of willing and honest believers among the ignorant and 
superstitious people. Some time about the end of May or be- 
ginning of June an epidemic prevailed at the Sisters' institution 
at Tientsin, and a considerable number of the children died. 
In some way the report got abroad that the Sisters were killing 
the children to get their eyes and hearts for the purpose of 
manufacturing some sort of a medical specific much sought 
after in Europe and commanding a fabulous price. This re- 
port spread from one to another, and soon the belief became 
general. Crowds of people assembled from time to time near 
the mission buildings, demanding the liberation of the children, 
and on one occasion they became so noisy that the Sisters, fear- 
ing violence from the mob, consented that an examination 
should be made by a committee of five. The consul, hearing 
of the disturbance, made his appearance about this time, and 
although the committee had been selected and were then in the 
building, he stopped the whole proceeding and drove away the 
committee with angry words. Subsequently the district magis- 
trate took a man who had been industriously spreading the re- 
ports, who said he could point out the persons who were guilty 
of acts of sorcery and odier crimes, to question him in the pres- 
ence of the Sisters, and when confronted by them admitted that 
ah his stories were without foundation and false. The day 
prior to the outbreak the district magistrate (chihien) called 
upon the French consul, and stated that unless permission be 
given for a thorough examination of the Sisters' establishment, 
it was difficult to foretell the result. The consul, construing 
the language into a threat, replied that the magistrate being in- 
ferior in rank to the consul, no negotiation could take place 
between them for the purpose indicated or any other." * 

1 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1870, p. 355. A private letter quoted 
in the Westminster Review for April, 1871, says : " Even then (on the 19th) I 
think the riot could have been prevented if the consul had -earnestly joined 



350 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

This very unwise answer turned the popular rage against the 
French consulate as well as the cathedral and orphanage, and 
the 21st saw a surging multitude assembled in their vicinity 
ready for any violence. M. Fontanier, the French consul, now 
thoroughly alarmed, hurried off to the yamun of Chunghow (the 
superintendent of customs), while stones flew about the building 
lie was quitting. For the rest, this poor man's fate is involved 
in uncertainty. Reaching Chunghow's office in a " state of ex- 
citement bordering upon insanity," he failed, either by persuasion 
or menace, in getting that dignitary to promise the impossible — 
to quell at once the angry mob. The officials, indeed, by this 
time were as helpless as he, and could only urge his remaining 
in the compound until the streets were clear. But the French- 
man and his clerk heeded nothing ; how they were cut down in 
the way, after firing into the angry mob, how the rampant popu- 
lace now attacked and pillaged the three or four French build- 
ings, how the defenceless Sisters were butchered in their or- 
phanage after suffering nameless barbarities, and how the fren- 
zied host left the burning ruins to glut their passions upon the 
neighboring houses, has come to the world solely on Chinese 
authority, and must remain always in the obscurity resulting 
from greatly conflicting testimony. The children of the or- 
phanage, however, were taken off, and thougli attempts upon 
some of the Protestant buildings were made, nothing serious 
resulted. Among the saddest casualties of this bloody day was 
the death of a Russian, his young bride, and a friend, who in 
escaping toward the foreign settlement of Tsz'-chuh-lin, two 
miles away, were mistaken for Frenchmen and promptly hacked 
to pieces on the road. The total number of victims in the 
massacre amounted to twenty foreigners and as many more 
Chinese servants, acolytes, and others. 

To the joint note of the seven foreign ministers in Peking, 
calling for immediate and vigorous measures in the face of this 
terrible news, Prince Kung replied (on the 25th) that in vindica- 
tion of the honor and justice of the imperial government toward 

with the local authorities in making a fftll inquiry, with a numher of the 
gentry, inside of the infirmary and church, to show them again that the rumors 
of foul deeds therein were groundless." 



ACTION OF THE PEKING GOVERNMENT. 351 

foreigners, Tsang Kwoh-fan (governor-general of the prov- 
ince) and Chunghow had already been directed to do every- 
thing in their power to suppress the spirit of riot and arrest law- 
]ess men. An imperial edict was issued for the apprehension 
of Chau, Chang, and Lin, the intendant, prefect, and magistrate 
of Tientsin, for their remissness and complicity in the riot. 
The fact that no foreign armed vessel was there on the 21st 
doubtless had its weight with these officials in carrying out 
their plans at the moment. They now saw that they had pur- 
sued their ill-will too far, and that retribution was sure to follow 
for their atrocities. Exaggerated reports of their doings had 
rapidly gone over the world, and as the extent and strength of 
the disaffection in other provinces could not be ascertained, the 
inference was made that all foreigners in China were in immi- 
nent jeopardy, and that the people had at last risen in their 
strength to aid their sovereign to drive them out of the land. 
When the storm had passed over, and those in authority had 
examined the criminals and given such justice as they could, 
the opinions of the best informed observers as to the immediate 
causes were found to be sustained. 

In a few weeks the naval forces of the leading powers had 
assembled at Tientsin. The French charge d'affairs, Count 
Eochechouart, took the lead and demanded the execution of 
the prefect and magistrate for having instigated the riot. The 
Chinese refused to do this until a trial had proved their guilt — 
having, perhaps, in some measure recovered their composure 
upon learning of the commencement of hostilities between 
France and Germany. The imperial government was unable 
itself to coerce the turbulent populace of Tientsin, for it had no 
troops who could be depended on to punish the rioters, with 
whom the soldiers sympathized. The extravagant statements 
and demands continually put forth in the Shanghai and Hong- 
kong newspapers tended to irritate and disconcert those high 
officials, who were already at their wits' end and were anxious 
to prevent a worse disaster. The foreigners seemed to think 
that they could utter hard charges indiscriminately against the 
Chinese rulers and people, who on their part were not to say a 
word. Minister Low, in his despatch of August 24th, when 



352 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

speaking of the thousands of fans sold at Tientsin containing 
pictures of the riot and murdering of foreigners, says : " These 
fans are made to suit the taste of the people, and the fact that 
such engravings will cause a better sale for the fans is a con- 
clusive argument that there is no sentiment of regret or sorrow 
among the people over the result of the riot. There is, un- 
doubtedly, greater unanimity of opinion in Tientsin in favor of 
the rioters than in Ireland among the peasantry in favor of one 
of their number who shoots his landlord. If this feeling in 
Ireland is strong enough to baffle all attempts of the English 
government to bring to justice by the ordinary forms of law a 
peasant accused of injuring the person or property of his land- 
lord, is it surprising that this feeble central government should 
find it difficult to ascertain and punish the rioters in a city of 
four hundred thousand inhabitants, all of whom either aided 
in the massacre or sympathized with the rioters ? " ■ 

The judicial investigations in Tientsin were conducted in a 
dilatory manner, but the above indicates some of the difficulties 
in the way of the presiding judges. However, on October 5th 
and 10th H. I. Majesty's decrees were made known to the for- 
eign ministers, stating that the prefect and magistrate had been 
banished to Manchuria, twenty criminals who had killed the 
foreigners sentenced to death, and twenty-one others actively 
aiding in the riot banished. On the morning of October 18th 
sixteen were decapitated in the presence of the foreign consuls 
and others assembled as witnesses. This closing act of the 
tragedy, as a condign punishment of guilt, was, however, un- 
fortunate ; it was made rather an occasion of showing to the 
people that the sufferers had the sympathy of their rulers, while 
many foreigners looked upon the execution as a ghastly farce — 
" a cold-blooded murder." Many believed that the sixteen men 
were purchased victims; the proofs were ample, however, of 
the complicity of all ; indeed, some of them gloried in what they 
had done, and were escorted by admiring friends to the block. 2 

1 Foreign Relations of the United States— CJiina, 1871, p. 380. 

a As an instance of some of the bitter sentiment rampant upon this occasion, 
may be quoted the open proposition of a British missionary, who insisted that 
one-half of the city of Tientsin be razed by a detachment of foreign troops of 



PUNISHMENT OF THE EIOTERS. 353 

It is a palpable exaggeration of the power or desires of a 
Chinese official to affirm that he is capable of buying up candi- 
dates for immediate execution. 

As to the remaining four condemned culprits, M. Ylangali, the 
Russian minister, judiciously refused to accept their deaths as a 
proper satisfaction for the murder of the three Russians until sat- 
isfied personally of their direct complicity in the deed. A careful 
examination of their case having been made before the consul- 
general of the Czar at Tientsin, revealed the fact that only two 
were guilty of the actual crime ; the minister consented then 
that the punishment of the other two should be commuted to 
banishment. The sum of Tls. 400,000 was paid to the French 
for loss of life and property ; in addition to this the loss done 
to Protestant mission premises was also made good. Chung- 
how was appointed imperial commissioner to proceed to France 
and present to that government a formal apology for the affair. 
This mission left Peking early in 1871 and returned the follow- 
ing year. The American missionaries who had in August been 
frightened away from their post in Tangchau 1 by the warnings 
and threats of certain evil disposed persons, were taken back from 
their asylum in Chif u two months later in the XT. S. S. Benicia, 
and publicly received by the prefect. This was the only in- 
stance throughout the Empire, connected with the riot of June, 
in which foreigners were interfered with, and here grave doubts 
exist as to the reality of danger and need of flight from Tang- 
chau. 

In estimating- the conduct of the Chinese in dealing with this 
eruption, the foreign press habitually spoke of them as if they 
were unwilling to grant any redress or take any measures for 
the future safety of those living among their subjects. Little 
consideration was made for the enormous difficulties of their 
position. They had been reared in ignorance of the multiplied 
questions and responsibilities involved in the recent treaties 
with other nations ; and though the foreign ministers were 

various nationalities, and that a pillar be erected upon the open space thus 
made, with a suitable inscription as to the occasion and authors of the monu- 
ment. 

1 On the promontory of Shantung. 



354 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

really acting most kindly toward them in forcing them to carry 
out every plain treaty obligation, the fair-minded observer can 
find small excuse for the harsh criticism, not to add abuse, 
which was hurled at everything said or done by Prince Kung 
and his colleagues in their peril and perplexity. The writers in 
newspapers seemed to look upon China as an appanage of 
Europe — one Englishman even going so far as to urge the most 
reckless employment of force to compel her rulers to give up 
the three odious officials to be dealt with and publicly executed. 
Another says that the execution of the sixteen criminals could 
"hardly be viewed as other than cold-blooded murder while 
those men are shielded from the demands of justice." Yet 
these writers forgot that all the treaties required that " Chinese 
subjects guilty of criminal acts toward foreigners shall be ar- 
rested and punished by the Chinese authorities according to 
the laws of China ;" and each nation obliged itself to try and 
punish its own criminals. Chunghow was the object of much 
abuse because he had not prevented or put down the mob, 
though he was merely a revenue officer and had neither terri- 
torial nor military jurisdiction at Tientsin. Even the mem- 
bers of the Tsung-li Yamun were freely charged with complicity 
in the tragedy, if not knowledge or approval. In short, the 
whole history of the riot — its causes, growth, culmination, re- 
sults, and repression — combine as many of the serious obstacles 
in the way of harmonizing Chinese and European civilizations 
as anything which ever occurred. 1 

As a natural sequence to the judicial proceedings which ter* 



1 The records of this event are widely scattered in the local papers published 
in China and in diplomatic correspondence. See the Missionary Recorder, 
November, 1870, and January, 1871 ; Journal of N. C. Branch of R. A. Soc, 
No. VI., pp. 186-196; Edinburgh Review, January, 1871; Westminster Review, 
April, 1871, Art. VI. ; The Tientsin Massacre, &c, by Geo. Thin, M.D., Edin- 
burgh, 1870 ; Foreign Relations of the United States for 1870 and 1871 ; Lega- 
tion to China ; Parliamentary Blue Book, 1871 ; H. Blerzy, Les affaires de 
Chine en 1871, Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 juillet, 1871 ; North CJiina Daily 
News and North China Herald for 1870. One of the most carefully prepared 
and interesting accounts of the massacre is contained in Baron Hubner's Ram- 
ble Round the World, translated by Lady Herbert, New York, 1875, pp. 526- 
573. 



RULES SUGGESTED FOR CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES. 355 

minated the Tientsin tragedy, came the inquiry of the imperial 
counsel into what was briefly summed up as the " missionary 
question." More than ten years had now elapsed since the gen- 
eral repeal of all pre-existing edicts against Christianity in the 
Empire, and the officials were already concerned as to the move- 
ments and rumors respecting the new sect which had come to 
their ears since that time. Accordingly in February, 1871, after 
an earnest study of the matter from their stand-point, the For- 
eign Office sent to the various legations the following note and 
memorandum : 

Tungchi, 9tli year, 12th moon, 24th day. 
Sir : In relation to the missionary question, the members of the Foreign 
Office are apprehensive lest in their efforts to manage the various points con- 
nected with it they shall interrupt the good relations existing between this 
and other governments, and have therefore drawn up several rules upon the 
subject. These are now enclosed, with an explanatory minute, for your exami- 
nation, and we hope that you will take them into careful consideration. 
With compliments, cards of Wansiang. 

Shan Kwei-fan. 

The rules proposed (1) that only the children of native Chris- 
tians be received into Komish asylums ; (2) that " in order to 
exhibit the reserve and strict propriety of Christianity," no 
Chinese females should enter the chapels nor foreign women 
propagate the doctrines ; (3) that missionaries should confine 
themselves to their proper calling, and that they " ought not to 
be permitted to set up an independent style and authority ; " 
(4) that they should not interfere in trials of their native con- 
verts when brought into criminal courts ; (5) that passports 
given to missionaries should not be transferred, but returned to 
the Chinese authorities when no longer required, "nor should 
they avail themselves of the passport to secretly go elsewhere," 
as the French ofttimes did ; (6) that the missionaries should 
never receive men of bad character into the church, nor retain 
those of notoriously evil characters ; moreover that quarterly re- 
ports of the converts be handed in to the provincial officers, as 
did the Buddhist and Taoist houses; (7) that missionaries 
should not use official seals, nor write official despatches to the 
local authorities, nor otherwise act as if they were officials 
instead of commoners. The last rule complained of the un- 



356 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

reasonable demands of the Romish missionaries for lands and 
houses to be restored to them in accordance with the Peking 
convention ; it proposed that no more be restored, and that lands 
bought for erecting churches be held in the name of the native 
church members. 

This state paper was remarkable as being the first in which 
the Chinese government had expressed its desire for a satisfac- 
tory discussion and decision of the difficult questions involved 
in Christian missions, and the quasi independence allowed their 
foreign agents by the treaties. The public sentiment among 
foreigners in China was that these good people had a right to 
do everything not expressly prohibited by treaty until their 
own consular officers notified them to the contrary. The un- 
authorized conduct of Romish missionaries in two western 
provinces had already given rise to riots, in which Frenchmen 
had been killed. In such judicial proceedings as that described 
by Abbe Hue in his interesting travels are seen the high-handed 
perversion of justice denounced in the seventh section of this 
paper. 1 The writers of these rules were hardly aware of the 
serious import of the questions they had grappled, still less of 
the ignorance they exhibited in their handling of them. All 
the strictures referred exclusively to the Roman Catholics, for 
Protestant missionaries were hardly known to the Chinese 
■magistrates, no complaints having been entered against them. 

Most of the foreign ministers long delayed their answers to this 
minute, so that no personal discussion ever took place between 
the parties most interested. The straightforward and earnest 
reply of Mr. Low, the United States envoy (dated March 20th), 
carefully went over all the main points, and gave Wansiang 
and Shan Kwei-fan a clear idea of what they might expect from 
other ministers, together with many good suggestions as to their 
•own duties. Nothing practical ever came of the paper, but the 
discussions it caused throughout the country showed the inter- 
est felt in the whole matter. 2 A few Protestant missionaries 
themselves indulged in harsh strictures on the native officials, 

1 Travels in the Chinese Empire, Vol. I., Chap. VI. 

2 Foreign Relations of tJie United States, 1871, pp. 99-111 ; also for 1872, pp. 
118-130 and 137-138. Missionary Recorder, Vols. III. and IV. passim. 



THEIR RECEPTION BY FOREIGNERS. 357 

one going the length of saying that he "looked upon the docu- 
ment rather as an excuse offered beforehand for premeditated 
outrages than as an indication of measures being taken to pre- 
vent them." However, no evil results ever came to the con- 
verts or their teachers from the discussion of the minute, and 
its diffusion gave many readers their first information on the 
whole subject. Differences of opinion led to a comparison of 
facts, and the small number of grievances reported upheld the 
conclusion that the Chinese officials and literati had been, on the 
whole, extremely moderate, considering their limited opportu- 
nities to examine the question and the irritation aroused by the 
demands and hauteur of the Romish missionaries. The unjust 
manner in which they possessed themselves of the ground 
within the city of Canton on which the governor-general's ya- 
mun once stood had made a deep impression on the citizens ; 
and when their cathedral, towering above all the temples and 
offices of the metropolis, was located upon this site, their indig- 
nation knew no bounds. 

The year 1873 saw the conclusion of the Mohammedan in- 
surrection in the north-western provinces, the exact extent of 
which has never been perfectly made known. The capture of 
Suhcbau (near the Kiayii Pass in Kansuh) by the imperial 
troops under General Tso Tsung-tang brought to an end all or- 
ganized rebellion in China Proper. 1 As is customary, the cen- 
tral government threw the responsibility of promoting the 
peace of the provinces upon their governors, and the well- 
disposed among the people w^ere usually sure of protection. 
The foreign administration of the import customs turned a 
large and certain revenue into the hands of the Peking officials, 
and their development of the defences of the coast in building 
forts, launching war steamers, and making war material at the 
new arsenals, indicated their fears of foreign reprisals and 
their unwisdom in deeming such outlays effectual. The same 
money spent in making good wagon roads, working iron, coal, 
and other mines, deepening navigable watercourses, and intro- 



1 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1874, p. 250. Peking Gazette, De< 
cember 28, 1873. 



358 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

during small steamers on them, would have brought more sub- 
stantial returns. But these were achievements which the 
future alone could accomplish, and the people must be some- 
what taught and prepared for them before any permanent 
advances would ensue. 1 

On October 16, 1872, occurred the marriage of the Emperor 
Tungchi to Aluteh, a Manchu lady. The ceremonies attend- 
ing her selection, betrothal, and espousal were elaborate and 
complete in every particular. Such an event had only once 
before taken place during the Manchu dynasty — when Kanghi 
was a minor, in 1674 — all the other emperors having been 
married during their fathers' reigns. The occasion, therefore, 
excited great attention, while the attendant expenses were 
enormous ; but all passed off without the least disturbance and 
apparently to general satisfaction. The two Empresses-dowager 
controlled the details, the most important of which were an- 
nounced to the Empire in a series of edicts prepared by mem- 
bers of the Li Pu, or Board of Kites, containing directions for 
every motion of the two principal actors, as well as for those 
who joined the ceremonies during the occasion till the 21st of 
the month. 2 

The young Emperor entered into the spirit of the prepara- 
tions with great interest, and on the day before sending the 
bride her phoenix robes and diadem he ordered three princes to 
offer sacrifice and burn incense on the altar to heaven, " these 
informing heaven that he was about to marry Aluteh, the wise, 
virtuous, and accomplished daughter of Chung, duke and 
member of the Hanlin." Another prince informed mother 
earth, and a third announced it to the imperial ancestors, in 
their special temple. During the weeks preceding and follow- 
ing the happy day, all courts throughout the land were closed 
and a general jail delivery promulgated. 

Many of the ceremonies and processions in Peking were not 

1 Compare a rather enthusiastic article by Captain A. G. Bridge, The Revival 
of the Warlike Power of China, Fraser's Magazine for June, 1879, p. 778. 

2 A translation of these papers was made at Shanghai, not long after, by 
Miss L. M. Fay, an American lady, and furnishes an interesting and authentic 
account of the whole wedding. 



MAEEIAGE OF THE EMPEROE TUNGCHI. 359 

public, for considerations of state and security demanded great 
care. 1 On the 19th the wedding was thus announced to the for- 
eign ministers by H. I. Majesty, through Prince Kung : "We 
having with pious veneration succeeded to the vast dominion 
founded by Our ancestors, and enjoying in its fulness the 
glorious lot to which We have been destined, have chosen one 
virtuous and modest to be the mistress of Our imperial home. 
Upon October 15th, We, by patent, installed Aluteh, daughter 
of Chung Chi, a shi-tsiang in the Hanlin College, as Empress. 
This from the Emperor." The court had not as yet outgrown 
its exclusiveness further than this step of announcing the mar- 
riage and its completion ; and to those best acquainted with the 
etiquette observed for centuries, even this seemed to be a good 
deal in advance of former times. The great counsellors of 
state soon arranged for closing the regency which had existed 
since 1861. The Emperor Tungchi, though born on April 27, 
1856, was called seventeen at his marriage. The Empresses- 
dowager accordingly announced on October 22d that he 
would attain his majority at the next Chinese new year, and be 
inaugurated with all the usual ceremonies. One of his special 
imperial functions, that of offering sacrifices to heaven at the 
winter solstice, would be performed by him in person — a cere- 
mony which had been intermitted since December, 1859. 
Accordingly, on February 23, 1873, he issued a decree through 
the Board of Rites, as follows : " We are the humble recipient 
of a decree from their Majesties the two Empresses, declaring it 
to be their pleasure that We, being now of full age, should in 
person assume the superintendence of business, and in concert 
with Our officers in the capital and in the provinces, attend to 
the work of good government. In respectful obedience to the 
commands of their Majesties, We do in person enter upon the 

1 For a report of what could be watched of this ceremony, see William 
Simpson, Meeting the Sun, Chap. XV. The bridal procession came off during 
the night, when a bright moonlight enabled him to see it pass, without 
molestation, from the shop where he was hidden. This chiaroscuro sort of 
panorama rather suited the ideas of the people, and was submitted to by the 
Pekingese crowd without a murmur. Compare K. Bismark in the Galaxy, 
Vol. XIX., p. 182; Cornhffl Magazine, Vol. XXVII., p. 82. 



360 HISTORY OF CHINA, 

important duty assigned to Us on the 26th day of the 1st moon 
of the 12th year of the reign Tungchi." 

This announcement was on the same day communicated to the 
ministers of Russia, Germany, the United States, Great Britain, 
and France. They returned a collective note the following 
morning, and asked Prince Kung to " take his Imperial Majes- 
ty's orders with reference to their reception." This intimation 
could not have been unexpected to him and his colleagues, but 
with their usual habit of putting off the inevitable, they began 
to make excuses. After deferring the consultation with the en- 
voys a fortnight on the plea of Wansiang's illness, they met 
at the Russian legation on March 11th. The question of 
the kotow was the crucial point, as it had been in 1859 between 
Kweiliang and Mr. Ward. Then the court was willing to accept 
a sort of curtsey instead of a prostration when the American 
minister approached the throne. iNow the court had put the 
strongest argument into the hands of foreign ministers by 
sending the Burlingame mission to their courts, and the rights 
of independent nations could not be waived or implicated by 
the least sign of inferiority. The conference was amicable and 
the matter fully ventilated. The demands upon the Chinese 
were summarized by the ministers : That a personal audience 
with the Emperor was proper and needful ; that it should not 
be unnecessarily delayed ; and that they would not kneel be- 
fore him, nor perform any other ceremony derogatory to their 
own dignity or that of their nationalities. These points were 
maintained as their united decision in the weary series of con- 
ferences, correspondence, and delays which ensued during the 
next four months in Peking. The prince and his colleagues, 
by their discussion of the point, had aroused the resistance of 
the great body of literati and conservative officials in the Em- 
pire, who had grown up in the belief that its unity and pros- 
perity were involved in the performance of the kotow. The 
discussion in July, 1859, when the Emperor Hienfung could 
safely decline to admit Mr. "Ward to an audience without it, had 
exhausted their arguments ; but his son had come to the throne 
under the new influences, which were rapidly breaking down 
all those old ideas and safeguards. The prince had, moreover, 



DISCUSSION OF THE AUDIENCE QUESTION. 361 

learned that the foreign ministers were not very strongly sup- 
ported by their own governments, none of whom intended to 
make the audience question a casus belli, or even a reason for 
withdrawing their legations from Peking. Perhaps the Yamun 
thought that the departure of the Russian and German minis- 
ters would leave the other three less inclined to persist in their 
demand, if serious consequences were likely to result. 

The American minister clearly states the pith of the matter 
in his despatch of March 24th in his closing words : "I attach 
importance to the proper settlement of the audience question 
at the earliest time possible. To demand it, and urge com- 
pliance with the demand, is a duty every western nation owes 
to its own dignity and to the welfare of its citizens and subjects 
residing here ; it is also a kindness to this government to try 
through this means to improve relations, and thus prevent, or 
at least postpone, what are now likely at any time to occur — 
hostile collisions, with their dreadful consequences." ' This 
alternative was not a fanciful one, and this cause of chronic 
dispute and irritation between China and other nations during 
many centuries was removed chiefly through the patient per- 
sistance of Mr. Low in this discussion. His despatches contain 
every fact and argument of importance in perhaps the most 
serious controversy ever brought before China. One cannot 
but sympathize with Prince Kung and his colleagues in their 
dilemma, and to this embarrassment Mr. Low gives due weight. 

The Chinese officials took a month to discuss the points 
among themselves, and signs of yielding were apparent both 
in the note of Prince Kung of April 16th and the memoran- 
dum of the 29th brought forward at an interview with the 
legations. Much of the same ground was gone over again ; a 
vacation ensued, then another protocol on May 15th appeared, 
followed by notes on the 20th and 29th from both sides, 
all tending to the desired conclusion. At last the audience 
question was settled on June 29th by the Emperor first 

1 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1873, p. 169. See also the despatches 
of that year, and compare Pauthier's Histoire des Relations Politique de la 
CJiine, Paris, 1858. Narrative of the American Embassy's visit to Peking, 
iV r . C Br. R. As. So., Vol. L 1859. 



362 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

receiving Soyeshima, the ambassador from Japan, by himself ; 
and immediately afterward the five ministers of Russia, the 
United States, Great Britain, France, and Holland, accompanied 
only by Mr. Carl Bismarck, the German, secretary, who inter- 
preted for them. 1 Mr. Low's despatch of July 10th, giving the 
details of the ceremonies and the previous discussion in settling 
them, with the difficulty the prince and others had in swallow- 
ing the bitter pill, is very valuable as a description of the finale 
of this last struggle of Chinese seclusion to resist the incoming 
wave of western power. The wall of their separation was at 
last broken down. They were really stronger and wiser than 
ever, and every nation interested felt a relief that the days of 
proud assumption were ended. The young Emperor held only 
three more audiences during his short reign of nineteen months ; 
and in all these discussions he seems to have taken no active 
part, nor did he oppose the conclusion. His ignorance of the 
whole question made his opinion a matter of small moment. 

Among other advantages resulting to all parties by the settle- 
ment of this question was the right adjustment of the Chinese 
government in its relations with other courts. This acknowledg- 
ment of their equality as independent nations did not in any- 
wise interfere with the obeisance of native officials when ap- 
proaching their sovereign ; but it smoothed the way for future 
diplomatic relations. No western power could maintain an 
envoy near the Hwangti at Peking with the least self-respect 
if he were not allowed to see this potentate unless by prostrating 
himself. While none of the great nations would deem a mere 
matter of ceremony a sufficient pretext for resorting to war — 
since war itself often fails to convince — a long continuance of 
this state of affairs must inevitably have led to complications 
the more unpleasant to diplomatists because sure to be oft-re- 
curring. It was probably owing to the personal influence of 
Prince Kung and Wansiang, the two most enlightened states- 
men of this period, that a further insistance upon the kotow 
was not made, and preparations thus arranged for reciprocal 
courtesies when Chinese ambassadors appeared at foreign courts. 

1 Compare the Illustrated London News for June 23, 1873. 



THE AUDIENCE GKANTED — COOLIE TRADE STOPPED. 363 

But against what tremendous odds of superstition and national 
prejudice these two officials were pitted in this curious contest 
those who have never lived in the Empire can hardly ap- 
preciate. 1 

The years 1873 and 1874 were marked by the abolition of 
the coolie trade at Macao, which since its rise in 1848 had been 
attended with many atrocities on land and sea. During these 
twenty-iive years attempts had been made to conduct the trade 
with some regard for the rights of the laborers, but experience 
had shown that to do this was practically impossible if the 
business were to be made remunerative. Driven from Hong- 
kong and Whampoa, the agents of this traffic had long found 
shelter in the Portuguese harbor of Macao, from which semi- 
independent port they could despatch Chinese crimps on kid- 
napping excursions for their nefarious trade. When at last the 
governor closed this haven to its continuance, the Spaniards and 
Peruvians were the only nationalities whom the action affected ; 
but Spain, falling back on her treaty of 1864, insisted that the 
coolie trade be allowed. The Yamun was advised not to admit 
this privilege until the harsh treatment of the laborers in Cuba 
had been inquired into. This was done in 1873, by means of a 
commission composed of three foreigners and two Chinese, who 
made as thorough an inquiry as the Cuban authorities would 
permit and reported the results in 1874. Since the dreadful 
disclosures which transpired in their report the trade has never 
revived. Peru, indeed, sent M. Garcia as its envoy to Peking 
to negotiate a treaty and obtain the right of engaging laborers, 



1 Of Wansiang's personal history little is known. He was a Mancliu, and a 
man of uncommonly prepossessing manner, being perhaps most highly es- 
teemed of all the officials who came in contact with the foreign legations. At 
the termination of hostilities and the organization of the Tsung-li Yamun in 
1861, he came prominently forward as a most efficient and sagacious adviser 
of the government. We have already in this narrative had occasion to note 
the influence of his name in the settlement of the Lay-Osborne flotilla and in 
the missionary question, the satisfactory conclusion of which was a meet 
tribute to his talents and judgment. He died at an advanced age in 1875, at 
the head of the administration. In his death the Chinese government lost an 
unselfish patriot and a keen observer of those things which were for the best 
interests of his country. 



364 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

but this gentleman met with no success whatever. The Chinese 
negotiations on this occasion showed the good results of their 
freer intercourse with foreigners in the improved character of 
their arguments for maintaining their rights. 1 The lamentable 
condition of Chinese laborers in Peru was fully enough proved, 
inasmuch as their appeal for relief to their home government 
had been before the Yamun since 1868, but it could do nothing 
effectual to help them. 

The Japanese government undertook in this year to try the 
issue of war with the Chinese in order to settle its demand of 
redress for the murder, in 1871, of some fifty-four Lewchewan 
sailors by savages on the eastern coast of Formosa. Japan 
had recently deposed the native authorities in Shudi, and being 
hard pressed for some employment of the feudal retainers of 
the retired daimios, undertook to redress Lewchewan griev- 
ances by occupying the southern part of Formosa, asserting that 
it did not belong to China because she either would not or 
could not govern its savage inhabitants. This view of the divid- 
ed ownership of the island was promptly rejected by the for- 
eign ministers resident at Tokio, but the officials were per- 
suaded that all they had to do was to occupy the whole southern 
district, and the Chinese could not drive them out when once 
their intrenchments were completed. 

The Mikado accordingly gathered his forces in Kiusiu during 
the years 1873-74, placing them under the command of General 
Saigo, and engaging qualified foreign military men to assist. 
The expedition was called a High Commission, accompanied by 
a force sufficient for its protection, sent to aboriginal Formosa to 
inquire into the murder of fifty-four Japanese subjects, and 
take steps to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities. A pro- 
clamation was issued April 17, 1874, and another May 19th, 
stating that General Saigo was directed to call to an account 
the persons guilty of outrages on Japanese subjects. As he 
knew that China was not prepared to resist his landing at 
Liang-kiao, his chief business was to provide means to house 



1 Foreign Belations of the United States, 1874, pp. 198-232. Westminster 
Review, Vol. 100, p. 75. Customs Report on Cuban Coolie Trade, 1876. 



JAPANESE EXPEDITION TO FORMOSA. 365 

and feed the soldiers under his command. The Japanese au- 
thorities do not appear very creditably in this affair. No sooner 
did they discover the wild and barren nature of this unknown 
region than they seemed fain to beat an incontinent and hasty 
retreat, nor did the troops landed there stand upon the order of 
their going. They had in some measure been misled by the fal- 
lacious arguments of Gen. Charles Le Gendre, formerly United 
States consul at Amoy, who had travelled through these districts 
in 1865 ; the enormous cost which they had already incurred 
made them hesitate about proceeding further, though they had 
announced their intention of retaining possession of the territory. 
The aborigines having fled south after the first rencontre, the 
Japanese leader employed his men as best he could in opening 
roads through the jungle and erecting houses. 

Meanwhile the Peking authorities were making preparations 
for the coming struggle, and though they moved slowly they 
were much in earnest to protect their territory. General Shin 
Pao-ehin having been invested with full powers to direct opera- 
tions against the Japanese forces, began at once to draw together 
men and vessels in Fuhchau and Amoy. The Japanese consuls 
at Amoy and Shanghai were allowed to remain at their posts ; 
and during the year two envoys arrived at Peking to treat 
with the Court. Their discussions soon narrowed down to a 
demand on the Japanese ministers, Yanagiw-ara and Okubo, to 
withdraw from Formosa before treating with them upon the 
outrages there ; which was met by a refusal on the ground that 
the Emperor had voided his sovereignty by having for three 
years taken no steps to punish his subjects, notwithstanding the 
repeated requests made to this end. The Chinese proved that 
the Japanese had violated their treaty, and acted in an under- 
hand manner in certain negotiations with their envoy, Soye- 
shima, the preceding year ; but this continued sparring was mere 
child's play. The probabilities were strong against any settle- 
ment, when the parties were induced to arrange their quarrel 
by the intervention and wise counsel of Sir T. F. Wade, the 
British minister. The Japanese accepted five hundred thou- 
sand taels for their outlays in Formosa for roads, houses, and 
defences ; agreeing thereupon to retire and leave the further 



366 history of china. 

punishment of the aborigines to the Chinese authorities. The 
two envoys left Peking, and this attempt at war was happily 
frustrated. 1 

The history of this affair was exceedingly instructive to those 
who saw the risks to their best interests which both these 
nations were running in an unnecessary appeal to force. Never, 
perhaps, has the resort to arbitration been more happy, when to 
the difficulty of keeping out of a quarrel which so many fortune- 
seekers were ready to encourage was added the fact that both 
nations had been eagerly developing their land and marine 
forces by adopting foreign arms, drill, ships, and defences; 
every friend felt the uselessness of a disastrous conflict at this 
time and willingly strove to prevent any such result. The civili- 
zation of all parts of Formosa has since rapidly advanced by 
the extension of tea and sugar culture, the establishment of 
Christian missions, and the better treatment of the native 
tribes. A single incident at this time illustrated the undefined 
position of the parties in this dispute. This was the arrival 
in Peking, after Okubo's departure, of a large embassy of Lew- 
chewans to make their homage to the Emperor Tungchi. The 
Japanese charge d'affaires was denied admittance to the Lew- 
chewan hotel, and the Yamun refused to dismiss the embassy, 
but gave it an audience, as was the usage in former days — proba- 
bly the last in their history. The experience acquired by these 
three nations in their quarrel concerning Formosa has not pre- 
vented considerable bitterness about their rights to Lewchew. 

~No sooner had the Chinese government escaped from the 
Japanese imbroglio by the payment of half a million taels than 
it found itself involved in another and more troublesome ques- 
tion with the British. This arose from the persistent attempts 
of the latter to open a trade through Burmah, along the Irra- 
wadi River, with Yunnan and other south-western parts of 
China. The Indian government had sent or encouraged ex- 
plorers to go through the little known regions lying between 

1 Is Aboriginal Formosa a part of the Chinese Empire ? with eight maps, 
folio, Shanghai, 1874, pp. 20. Foreign delations of the United States for 1873 
and 1874 — China and Japan, passim. The Japan Herald and North China 
Herald for those years record all the leading events. 



MAJOR SLADEN's MISSION TO YUNNAN. 367 

the Brahmaputra and Lantsang rivers, but no trade could be 
developed in so wild and thinly settled a region. During the 
Tai-ping Rebellion the Emperor's authority in Yunnan had 
been practically in abeyance, and over the western half of the 
province it had been superseded by a revolt of the Panthays, a 
Mohammedan tribe long settled in that region. These sectaries 
date their origin from the Tang dynasty, and had been gener- 
ally unmolested by the Chinese so long as they obeyed the 
laws. During the Mongol sway their numbers increased so that 
they began to participate in the government, while ever since 
they have enjoyed more or less the control of affairs. 1 The 
differences in faith and practice, however, aided in keeping them 
distinct ; and in Yunnan their numbers were recruited by set- 
tlers from Kansuh and Koko-nor, so that they were led to 
throw off the Chinese rule altogether. 

They began about the year 1855 to defend themselves against 
the imperialists, captured Tali in 1857, pushing their arms 
as far eastward as the provincial capital Yunnan fu, which was 
seized and held for a brief period ; but in 1867 they proclaimed 
Tu Win-siu as their Imam, and located their capital in Tali. 
With affairs in this condition law and order speedily vanished, 
life and property were sacrificed, and general misrule furnished 
the lawless with an opportunity to burn, kill, and destroy until 
the land became a desert. The Panthays, as the Burmese 
called the insurrectionists, turned their hopes westward for 
succor, and to this end endeavored to keep open the trade with 
Burmah and India, but under the circumstances it could not 
flourish. The British in those countries were, however, quite 
ready to countenance, if not aid, the new ruler at Tali, as soon 
as his power was sufficiently consolidated to keep open the roads 
and protect traders. 

In 1868 a party was ordered to proceed to this city and " dis- 
cover the cause of the cessation of trade formerly existing by 
these routes, the exact position held by the Kakhyens, Shans, and 
Panthays with reference to that traffic, and their disposition or 

1 Compare Dr. Anderson, From Mandalay to Momien, p. 223. Du Halde, 
Eistoire, Tome I., p. 199. Grosier, China, Vol. IV., p. 270. Gamier, Voyaye 
d 1 Exploration, Tome I. Cooper, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce. 



868 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

otherwise to resuscitate it." This party, numbering a hundred 
in all, was in charge of Major Sladen, assisted by five qualified 
men, and guarded by an escort of fifty armed police ; its object 
embraced diplomacy, engineering, natural science, and com- 
merce. Their steamer reached Bhamo January 22, 1868, and 
the party began their travels early in March, arriving after much 
delay at Momein (or Tang-yueh chau), a town on the Taping 
River, one hundred and thirty-five miles from Bhamo and about 
five thousand feet above the sea. Another forced delay of nearly 
two months convinced them of the impossibility of their getting 
to Tali (nearly as far again) ; in face of the determined opposition, 
therefore, both of the hill tribes and Chinese traders, Major 
Sladen was fain to retire in safety to Bhamo. The retreat of 
this anomalous expedition could be officially ascribed to the 
weakness of the Panthay rulers, the wild region traversed, and 
its yet wilder inhabitants. But to what principles of justice or 
equity can we attribute the action of the British in retaining 
their minister at the capital of an Empire while sending a 
peaceful mission to a rebel in arms at its boundaries ? This 
impertinence seems thinly veiled by dubbing the expedition one 
of inquiry concerning trade ; no trade did or could exist with 
an ill-assorted rabble of w T ild mountaineers; w T hen these had 
been duly subjected an expedition for purposes of science would 
meet with as ready assistance from the authorities as did that 
of the Frenchman, Lieutenant Gamier, then exploring eastern 
Yunnan. This disregard of the courtesies and rights of inde- 
pendent nations reflects as little credit upon the powerful nation 
which used her strength thus unfairly as does her similar at- 
tempt of negotiating with another rebel, Yakub Beg in lli. 

Major Sladen' s mission, owing to the admirable qualities of 
its leader, made so fair an impression upon the natives along 
his route that upon his return in 1873 his progress was materi- 
ally assisted, instead of retarded, by them as far as Momein. 
In the years intervening the Imam at Tali, with about forty 
thousand of his followers, had been hemmed in by the Chinese 
forces under the leadership of Li Sieh-tai, or Brigadier Li. The 
Mohammedans felt their weakness against such odds, and the 
so-called Sultan Suleiman sent his son Hassan to London to 



SECOND BRITISH MISSION TO YUNNAN. 369 

implore recognition and aid from the British government ; but 
before lie returned his father had killed himself and the victo- 
rious Chinese had massacred most of their opponents and re- 
gained possession of the whole province in 1873. Its western 
half had been virtually independent since 1855, during which 
period the wretchedness of the inhabitants had greatly reduced 
their- numbers and resources. 

Trade soon revived. The British appointed an agent to reside 
at Bhamo and learn its amount and character. In 1874 an ex- 
pedition — this time provided with Chinese passports — was 
planned to make the trip across China from Burmah to Han- 
kow, as Lieutenant Gamier had done from Saigon. The Chinese 
traders in Burmah set themselves to circumvent it, for its suc- 
cess boded disaster to them, as they better knew the resources 
of their competitors. The British plan was to send an accred- 
ited agent across the country from Hankow to Bhamo, there to 
meet a party under charge of Col. Horace Browne, which was 
to " thoroughly examine the capabilities of the country beyond 
Momein." As only six years had passed since Sladen's party 
had reached that town on its way to the Panthays at Tali, there 
had perhaps been hardly time to remove all suspicion among 
the local officials about the objects of this new move. One 
of the consular clerks, Augustus R. Margary, was furnished 
with necessary passports and instructions from her Majesty's 
legation to go to Bhamo and act as Colonel Browne's guide and 
interpreter. His journals testify that no better choice could have 
been made, and all who knew him were hopeful of the success 
of this young man/ He left Hankow September 2d and reached 
Bhamo January 17th without molestation or accident, having 
been received with respect by all Chinese officials, whom the 
governor-general of Yunnan had required thus to act. While 
the party in Bhamo prepared the equipment for its journey, Dr. 
Anderson observes that the Chinese " watched its movements 
with a secret feeling that the objects contemplated were somewhat 
beyond the peaceful pursuits of commerce and scientific inquiry/' 2 

1 Journals of A. R. Margary, edited by Sir R. Alcock, London, 1877. 

2 The report was also circulated that the party was going to lay down a rail- 
road. 



370 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Mr. Margary intimated that lie thought there were intrigues 
going on at Manwyne adverse to the advance of the mission ; but 
Brigadier Li, who treated him there with great honor, did every 
thing to promote his journey to Bhamo. 

The arrangements as to routes and escorts were at last com- 
pleted so far as to allow the party finally to leave Bhamo 
February 3, 1875 ; it numbered nearly fifty persons in all, together 
with a Burmese guard of one hundred and fifty. The rivalries and 
deceptions of the Kakhyen tribes proved to be worse than in 1868, 
and progress was slower from the difficulty of providing animals 
for transport. By the 18th it had crossed the frontier, and the 
next morning Mr. Margary left, with five Chinese, for Manwyne, 
to arrange there for its reception by Brigadier Li. Increased 
dissensions among the tribes as to escort, transport, and pay 
led Colonel Browne to push on after him with a guard so as to 
reach that town and find some competent authority to aid his 
expedition. Many signs of serious opposition had by this time 
manifested themselves ; and when he was preparing to start 
from Seray on the 23d, large bodies of armed men were seen 
on the opposite hills coming to attack the British. A Burmese 
messenger also arrived from Manwyne with letters giving an 
account of the horrid murder of Mr. Margary and his atten- 
dants by the treacherous officials there on the 20th. The Chi- 
nese soldiers or robbers were in a manner repulsed by the 
bravery of Browne's escort and by firing the jungle, but the ex- 
pedition was in face of too powerful an opposition to contem- 
plate advancing after such disasters. The return to Bhamo was 
soon made, and the earnest efforts of the Burmese officers there 
to recover everything belonging to the British proved their 
honesty. 

The disappointment at this rebuff was exceeded by the gen- 
eral indignation at the treachery which marked the murder. It 
was soon known that Li Sieh-tai was not at Manwyne at the 
time, though the real actors in the tragedy belonged to his army, 
and must have made him cognizant of the deed. 1 

1 Mandalay to Momien : A Narrative of Tico Expeditions to Western Chi?ia, 
by Dr John Anderson, contains a most satisfactory narrative of these attempts; 
the writer's opinion is of the highest value. 



MURDER OF MARGARY AT MAXWYXE. 371 

When news of this disaster readied London and Peking, the 
British minister was directed to demand an investigation of the 
facts connected with the outrage in presence of a British 
officer in Yunnan, the issue by the Yamun of fresh passports 
for a new mission, and an indemnity. After months of delay 
and correspondence with the Yamun Sir Thomas "Wade, the 
British minister, was able to make up his commission and des- 
patch it from Hankow, November 5th, for Yunnan f u. It con- 
sisted of the Hon. T. G. Grosvenor, second secretary of the 
legation, and Messrs. Davenport and Baber of the consular 
service, all of them well fitted by previous training for attain- 
ing the objects of their expedition. The journey was per- 
formed in company with a Chinese escort, without danger or 
interference, the city of Yunnan being reached in March. The 
gentlemen found the provinces through which they travelled 
perfectly at peace, and the Emperor's authority everywhere 
acknowledged — a fact extremely creditable to the Chinese after 
more than twenty years of civil war. 

The Chinese appointed to conduct the inquiry into the 
murder, in connection with Mr. Grosvenor, was Li Han-chang, 
governor-general at Wuchang and brother of Li Hung-chang. 
He was long in making the journey, but the two began their 
proceedings, having Sieh II wan, an old member of the Yamun 
in 1S6I, as aid. Those who had any experience or acquaint- 
ance with similar joint commissions in China anticipated but 
one result from it — an entire failure in proving or punishing 
the guilty parties ; while those who wish to see their character 
should read Mr. Grosvenor's various reports 1 to learn how slow 
are the advances of the Chinese in truth-telling. Nevertheless, 
such an investigation had some prospective benefit in that the 
trouble which the British made on account of the taking of one 
life warned the officials to exercise the greatest caution in 
future. In this preventive aspect, the mission doubtless accom- 
plished more than can be estimated. Mr. Baber is sure that 
Margary was killed (and his opinion is entitled to great respect) 
by the discontented Chinese trainbands then around Manwyne — 

1 Blue Book—CMna, No. 1 (1876) and No. 3 (1877). 



372 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

a lawless set, who were afterward hunted to death. 1 The 
weight of evidence obtained at Yunnan fu went to prove that 
the repulse of the British party was countenanced, if not 
planned, by the governor-general, and carried into effect with 
the cognizance of Brigadier Li. Amid so much irreconcilable 
evidence, the inference that the officers, chiefly by so doing, in- 
tended to prevent the extension of trade by the British, offers 
the most adequate explanation. When the impoverished con- 
dition of Southwestern China is remembered, the question 
arises, Why should the Indian government strive to open a trade 
where industry and population have been so destroyed? But 
the expectation that thereby a greater market would be found 
for its opium in all Western China is a sufficient reason, perhaps, 
for undertaking so costly an experiment. 

Iso sooner had Sir Thomas Wade learned of Margary's 
death than he impressed upon the Chinese government the 
necessity for unremitting and vigorous measures toward the 
arrest and punishment of the guilty. In addition to what has 
been already stated concerning this reparation, he brought for- 
ward some other matters affecting the intercourse between the 
two countries. They were long and painfully debated, and 
those agreed on were embodied in a convention which was 
signed by himself and Li liung-chang, on the part of Great 
Britain and China, September 13, 1876. The correspondence 
relating to this convention is given, with its text, in the Parlia- 
mentary Blue Books, 2 and is worth perusal by all who wish to 
learn the workings of the Chinese government. 

The Yunnan case was settled by immediate payment of two 
hundred thousand' taels ($280,000), which included all claims 
of British merchants on the Chinese government ; by posting 
an imperial proclamation in the cities and towns throughout 
the Empire ; by sending an envoy bearing a letter of regret to 
Queen Victoria for what had occurred in Yunnan ; and by 

1 Blue Book — China, No. 3, 1878. Beport of Mr. Baber on the route followed 
by Mr. Grosvenvr's mission between Talifu and Momein. Reprinted, with his 
other interesting travels and researches in Western China, in Supplementary 
Papers, Vol. I., Part 1, 1882, of Boy. Geog. Soc., London. 

2 Blue Book— China, No. 1 (1876) and No. 3 (1877). 



THE CHIFU CONVENTION". 373 

stationing British officers at Tali or elsewhere in that province 
to " observe the conditions of trade." The proclamation J was 
posted very widely (three thousand copies in Kiangsu province 
alone), and through it the people learned that the safety of all 
foreigners travelling through their country was guaranteed by the 
Emperor. Other matters agreed upon in this convention were 
the manner of official intercourse between native and foreign 
officers at Peking and the ports, so that perfect equality might 
be shown ; the better administration of justice in criminal 
cases between their respective subjects, every such case being 
tried by the official of the defendant's nationality; while the 
plaintiff's official could always be present to watch proceedings ; 
the extension of trade by opening four new ports as consular 
stations, and six on the Yangtsz' River for landing goods, with 
other regulations as to opium, transit, and li-kin taxes on goods ; 
and lastly, the appointment of a joint commission to establish 
some system that should enable the Chinese government to 
protect its revenue without prejudice to the junk trade of 
Hongkong. 

This final article might well have been omitted. The conces- 
sions and advantages in it accrued to the British, and through 
them also measurably to other nationalities. But while the 
Chinese under the circumstances had no right to complain 
of paying heavily for Margary's life, it was manifestly unfair 
to cripple their commerce by sheltering Hongkong smugglers 
under promise of a commission which could never honestly 
agree. In order to better understand the British minister's 
views regarding the political and commercial bearing of his 
convention, the reader is referred to his labored minute of July 
14, 1877, 2 in which the fruits of thirty-five years of official ex- 
perience in China impart much value to his opinions. The 
singular mixture of advice, patronizing decisions, and varied 
knowledge running through the whole render the paper ex- 
tremely interesting. The Chinese historian of the next century 
will read with wonder the implied responsibility of the British 
minister for the conduct of the Empire in its foreign manage- 

1 Blue Booh— China, No. 3 (1877). * Ibid , pp. 111-147. 



374 HISTORY OF CHIJSTA. 

ment, and the enormous development of the principle of ex-ter- 
ritoriality so as to cover almost every action of every British 
subject. He may also be instructed by this proof of the igno- 
rance and fears of the former rulers, as well as their conceit 
and hesitation in view of their wants and backwardness to cope 
with the advancing age. He must acknowledge, too, that the 
sharp and prolonged discussion of eighteen months between Sir 
Thomas and the Yamun was one of the most profitable exer- 
cises in political science the high officers of Peking ever had al- 
lowed them. 

Since the convention of Chif u the progress of China at home 
and abroad has been the best evidence of an improved adminis- 
tration. The reign of Hienf ung ended in 1861, with the pres- 
tige, resources, and peace of the realm he had so miserably 
governed reduced to their low T est ebb. During the twelve years 
of his son's nominal regime, the face of affairs had quite changed 
for the better. Peace and regular government had been for the 
most part resumed throughout the Eighteen Provinces, and even 
to the extreme western frontier of Kashgar and Kuldja. The 
people were returning to their desolated villages, while their 
rulers did what they could to promote agriculture and trade. 
The young Emperor gave small promise of becoming a wise or 
efficient ruler ; and when he died (January 12, 1875) it was felt 
that an effigy only had passed away, and no change would ensue 
in the administration. In the question of selecting his inheritor 
were involved some curious features of Chinese customs. It 
is a rule that the succession to the Zung-wei, or £ Dragon's 
Seat,' cannot pass to the preceding generation, since this would 
involve the worship of a lower or younger generation by an 
older one. The line of Hienfung died out in his childless son ; 
the eldest of his brothers had, as we have seen, been made pos- 
thumous heir of an uncle in 1854, consequently his son, Pu-hm, 
w r as ineligible. The elevation of Prince Kung's son Tsai-ching 
to be Emperor w T as in the highest degree inexpedient, as this 
would necessitate the retirement of his father from active par- 
ticipation in the government, arising from their relationship of 
father and son. The next eligible candidate, Tsai-tien, a child 
of Prince Chun — the seventh son of Taukwang — 'born August 15, 



ACCESSION OF THE EMPEEOE KWASTGSU. 375 

1871, was unanimously chosen by the Empresses dowager and 
assembled princes of the Manchu Imperial Clan. His parents 
were brother and sister of those of his predecessors, while the 
same regency had been reappointed, so that his tender age in- 
volved neither difficulty nor alteration during the minority. 
He took the reign-name of Kwang-su, or * Illustrious Succes- 
sion,' having reference to the disturbance in the regular de- 
scent. By this arrangement the same general set of officials 
was continued on the government, and the risk to its peaceful 
working from the freaks of Tungchi avoided. 1 

A most notable event during the last decade has been the re- 
covery of the vast regions of the Tarim Valley to the imperial 
sway. Their loss took place during the early part of the 
Tai-ping Rebellion, beginning in Kansuh, where the discontent- 
ed Moslem population, aided by the reckless and seditious of 
all clans, arose and drove out the governmental minions even to 
the eastern side of Shensi. Of this extended revolt little is 
known in the west save the name of its figure-head and leading 
character under whose mastery it culminated and succumbed. 

The famous Yaknb Beg, whom the jealous attentions of both 
England and Russia had united in raising to the rank of a hero, 
commenced his military career as lieutenant of Bazurg khan, 
a son of the notable Jehangir, kojeh of Kokand. By the 
year 1866 the energetic lieutenant had made way with his licen- 
tious and cowardly chief, and possessed himself of a large part 
of Western Kashgaria ; then, turning his attention to the rebel- 
lious Dunganis north of him, a series of vigorous campaigns 
ended in leaving him undisputed ruler of all Tien- Shan Nan 
Lu. These conquests over, hordes of neighboring rebels must 
now be recognized as fatal errors in the policy of Yakub. The 
Atalik Ghazi, or ' Champion Father' as he was now called, 
had not only attracted the distrust of Russia — manifested in 
their taking of Kuldja from the Dunganis before his approach 
was possible — but in annihilating other Moslem insurrectionists, 

1 The Eastern Empress-dowager, the legal widow of Hienf ung, whose only 
child, a daughter, died early in 1875, followed her to the grave in 1881, leav- 
ing the regency with her coadjutor, the Empress An, aided by Prince Kung. 



376 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

had constituted himself an avenger of Chinese wrongs, and 
prepared the way of his own enemies whenever the terrible day 
of reckoning should come. 

The attempt on the part of China to restore its prestige in a 
territory where every hand was turned against her seemed 
indeed hopeless. Her exhausted resources, her constant fear 
of the foreigners within her gates, her suspicions of Russia, 
the immense distances to be traversed, seemed to unite every 
factor against her success. Nevertheless, by 1871 symptoms of 
disorganization began already to appear among the rebels, while 
in the wishes of the common people for a strong power to in- 
sure order and encourage trade Tso Tsung-tang, the Chinese 
genera], found both assistance and men. 

A moment's attention to the relations between the Chinese 
and Mohammedans of this region will throw much light on 
their contest. Since their conquest by Kienlung, the inhabitants 
of Eastern Turkestan had enjoyed an unexampled period of 
tranquillity and prosperous trade. The Chinese, known as 
Kitai, settled in their cities and brought a degree of wealth 
and civilization far ahead of anything previously known, while 
the rulers, or ambans, joined to their duties as administrators of 
justice a fostering care of trade routes and methods for develop- 
ing the country. They have at all times been celebrated for 
irrigating their provinces, and now reproduced their wonderful 
canals (says Boulger) " even in this outlying dependency. 
Eastern Turkestan is one of the worst-watered regions in the 
world. In fact there is only a belt of fertile country around 
the Yarkand River, stretching away eastward along the slopes 
of the Tien Shan as far as Hami. The few small rivers which 
are traced here and there across the map are during many 
months of the year dried up, and even the Yarkand then 
becomes an insignificant stream. To remedy this, and to 
husband the supply as much as possible, the Chinese sunk dikes 
in all directions. By this means the cultivated country was 
slowly but surely spread over a great extent of territory, and 
the vicinity of the three cities of Ivashgar, Yangi Hissar, and 
Yarkand became known as the garden of Asia. Corn and fruit 
grew in abundance, and from Yarkand to the south of the Tien 



YAKUB BEG AND THE REVOLT IN TURKESTAN. 377 

Shan the traveller could pass through one endless orchard. On 
all sides he saw nothing but plenty and content, peaceful ham- 
lets and smiling inhabitants. These were the outcome of a 
Chinese domination." * 

In addition to the fields and rivers, mines were worked, moun- 
tain passes cut and kept in repair, and the internal government 
of tribes placed on an equable basis. As to the precise manner 
in which discontent and rebellion crept into this apparently 
happy territory, it must always remain a matter of conjecture. 
The customs of its inhabitants have for ages been based on the 
tribal principle to such an extent that they found it impossible 
to assimilate with the Chinese and their methodical government, 
even though for their advantage to do so. The repeated failures 
of the United States to introduce a certaindegree of civiliza- 
tion among the Indians present an analogous case. Uneasiness 
among the natives caused by agents from Kokand and Tash- 
kend was speedily followed by larger demands from turbulent 
Mussulmans, wdio saw in Chinese moderation an evidence of 
weakness and decline. Jehangir's rebellion not unjustly in- 
censed a government which had devoted more than half a 
century to the building up of a shattered State, and was punished 
with merciless rigor. Oppression from the Chinese met by 
resistance, equitable rule alternating with weakness and in- 
justice, trade impeded by illegal imports, ambitious Usbeck 
chiefs exciting their tribes to rise against their conquerors — 
these and similar causes had been at work to prevent all per- 
manent progress in Turkestan. 

During the lowest ebb of Manchu authority in the Empire, 
when foreigners and Tai-pings were straining the utmost re- 
sources of the government in the East, a small village of Kan- 
suh was the scene of a sudden riot. When after two days 
couriers brought word that the disturbance was quelled with 
some loss of life, the authorities began to suppose that the affair 
had already been forgotten ; but it proved to be the fuse that 
lighted an outbreak scarcely smaller than the other civil war 



1 Life of Yakodb Beg, London, 1878, p. 59. See also R. B. Shaw, Visits to 
High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar, London, 1871, Chaps. II. and III. 



378 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

within the provinces. 1 The Dunganis had arisen and spread 
the infection of revolt wherever they existed — over large districts 
of Shensi, but principally toward the west, to Turfan, Kuche, 
and Aksu — continuing the weary story of surprise, slaugh- 
ter, and barbarity even to the city of Kuldja. 2 Allying with 
themselves the Tarantchi, a sort of fellah class which the Chinese 
had imported into the regions from Ivashgar, the victorious 
rebels established one of those ephemeral governments over the 
Tien Shan and its adjoining valleys that have so frequently 
arisen in the history of Central Asia. Under their rule travel 
beyond the Kiayii Pass was of course impossible, while trade 
diminished throughout the country, and Russia, as we have seen, 
wrested Kuldja from Abul Oghlan in order to secure her own 
borders. The first serious check received by this confederation 
w T as its virtual overthrow, when Yakub advanced upon Aksu 
and from thence cleared the great road eastward to Turfan. 

Tso's first labor, then, was to clear Shensi and Ivansuh of the 
rebels, in which his progress was marked by admirable fore- 
sight and energy in disposition of men, arrangement of courier 
service, and use of modern arms. Establishing himself by 1876 
in Barkul and Hami as headquarters, by the following spring 
he was prepared for a concerted movement from the north 
(Gutchen and TJrumtsi) and east (Pidshan) upon Yakub Beg at 
Turfan. The redoubtable chieftain was finally caught by the 
tardy but certain power which he had long despised with im- 
punity, and driven backward through the towns of Toksun and 
Harashar to Korla, where he died or was murdered, May, 1877. 
During this and the following years the governor-general suc- 
ceeded in reinstating the authority which had been in abeyance 
nearly a score of years. His army under two able generals ad- 
vanced along the parallel roads north and south of the Tien 
Shan, punishing the rebels without mercy, while " the Moham- 

1 " It is impossible not to connect this event in some degree with that unac- 
countable revival among Mohammedans, which has produced so many impor- 
tant events during the last thirty years, and of which we are now witnessing 
some of the most striking results. " — Boulger. Life of Takoob Beg, p. 95. 

2 Which fell in January, 1806. after the Chinese governor had destroyed him* 
self and his citadel by gunpowder. 



THE REBELLION SUPPRESSED. 379 

medans who submitted themselves were permitted to revert to 
their peaceful avocations." *-- When upon the desert the troops 
were provisioned from Russian territory, but during the early 
years of the campaign it appears that the soldiers were made to 
till the ground as well as construct fortifications. The history of 
the advance of this " agricultural army " would, if thoroughly 
known, constitute one of the most remarkable military achieve- 
ments in the annals of any modern country. 2 

With the fall of Kashgar (December 17, 1877) the reconquest 
was practically completed, though Yarkand and the neighbor- 
ing towns held out some months longer, at the end of which 
the chiefs of the Moslem movement had either fled to Ferghana 
or succumbed in the fight. The Chinese now turned their at- 
tention to the occupation of Kuldja, and sent Chunghow in 
December, 1878, to St. Petersburg upon a mission relating to its 
restoration. The envoy needed, indeed, but to remind the Czar 
of Russian promises made in Peking in 1871 concerning the 
prompt retrocession of the occupied territory when China should 
have reasserted her authority in those regions; but neither 
European nor Oriental diplomats seemed to regard the city 
"held in trust for China by t\e Russian government" as in 
the least likely to return to the dominion of the Hwangti, while 
many were persuaded that Rui sia would resort to arms before 
surrendering one of the most prosperous of her possessions in 
order to keep a rash promise. 3 

Chunghow — whose capacity had been in some degree tested 
in the Tientsin riot — was hardly the best choice for envoy even 
among the still ignorant officers at Peking, inasmuch as to the 
seemingly apparent defect of an unusually Boeotian tempera- 
ment was added a profound ignorance of any European lan- 
guage, of modern methods of diplomacy, and of the topography 
of the territory in question. It is almost needless to add that 

1 Peking Gazette. 

2 TJie Spectator, April 13, 1878, Pall Mall Gazette, June, 1878, and London 
Times, November, 1878. Boulger, Life of Yakoob Beg, Chaps. XII. -XIV. 

3 For an excellent illustration of the prevailing sentiment on this question, 
even after Chunghow's embassy, see Mr. D. C. Boulger in Fraser's Magazine 
for August, 1880, p. 164. 



380 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

such an embassy was ill-prepared to cope with the astute diplo* 
matists of an eager court, or that it speedily fell a prey to the 
designs upon it. A treaty of eighteen articles was signed at 
Livadia yielding a portion of the Kuldja district to China, Rus- 
sia retaining, however, the fruitful valley of the Tekes River, all 
the more important strategic strongholds and passes in the Tien 
Shan, and the city of Yarkand ; China, moreover, to pay as in- 
demnity five million rubles for the cost of occupying Kuldja. 
Other important concessions, such as a trade route from Hankow 
through Suhchau to Kuldja and Siberia, the opening to Rus- 
sian caravans of thirty-six frontier stations, the modification of 
the Kashgarian frontier, the arming of Muscovite merchants, 
and the navigation of the Songari River, were apparently added 
to this compact according as the Russians increased their ex- 
perience of the " gullability " of these remarkable ambassadors. 

Even officers of the Czar's army, in referring afterward to 
this treaty, were prone to add to their remarks some measure 
of apology. "When in January, 1880, Chunghow returned 
home with the unwise and humiliating document in his posses- 
sion, he could not have felt wholly certain of a triumphant recep- 
tion. Nevertheless it is not likely that the luckless ambassador 
contemplated being at once deprived by imperial edict of all his 
offices and turned over to a board for trial and punishment. 
Statesmen of both parties joined in denouncing him, Li Hung- 
chang and Tso alike presenting memorials to the same effect, 
while a flood of petitions more or less fierce poured upon the 
government from mandarins of all ranks. On the 28th the 
returned envov was cashiered for having signed awav territory 
and promised indemnity without special authorization, and in 
punishment was sentenced to decapitation. The actors in this 
movement, which upon the manifestation of such prompt and 
furious measures assumed the phase of an intrigue of the war 
party, were Tso and Prince Chung, who seized upon the popular 
wrath as an opportune moment for a master stroke against 
Prince Kung. 

With the appearance of danger such as this the party in 
power recoiled at once from its angry position, depreciated the 
highly bellicose tone of court officials, and accepted the good 



NEGOTIATIONS EESPECTING THE CESSION OF KULDJA. 381 

offices of the foreign ministers who joined in protesting against 
the unworthy treatment of Chunghow and the monstrous bar- 
barity of his sentence. Possibly the temperance of Russia's 
attitude in demanding the unconditional pardon of Chunghow 
before consenting to receive a second ambassador — the Marquis 
Tsang, minister to England, already appointed — materially 
aided in quieting the storm. Fortunately, too, amid the rumors 
of a resort to arms and manifest preparations of the palace 
discontents to force an issue, Colonel Gordon visited the capital, 
and in a communication to Governor Li pointed out the folly of 
attempting a foreign conflict and the peculiar dangers in over- 
whelming, by courting a certain defeat, the great benefits which 
must come to the Chinese army by its gradual reorganization 
upon modern methods. "Potentially," said this unpalatable 
but honest critic, "you are perhaps invincible, but the outcome 
of this premature war will show you to be vulnerable at a thou- 
sand points." Counsels such as these carried unusual weight 
as coming from a man whom all parties in China respected and 
admired ; there can be little doubt that it sensibly decreased 
the war feeling, and possibly prevented the country from rush- 
ing to certain disaster. 

Chunghow was accordingly reprieved, and in June of this 
year set free. The intelligence and experience of Tsang 1 
proved an acceptable contrast to his predecessor's unguarded 
conduct, and resulted in an agreement (May 15th) on the part of 
the Czar's negotiators to recede nearly the whole of the con- 
tested district, excepting a narrow strip upon its western edge 
for purposes of colonization or retreat for those inhabitants of 
111 who preferred to remain under Russian control. 2 In return 

1 Upon his return to China the marqnis published his diary, some portions 
of which have found their way into the China Review (Vol. XI. , p. 135) and 
are extremely interesting as the outspoken opinion of an appreciative and 
enlightened Chinese gentleman. 

2 Precisely the extent of this strip depends upon the exact definition of the 
boundary here under Taukwang. The present line is laid down in that por- 
tion of the new treaty quoted in Volume I., p. 218 ; the territory forms approx- 
imately a wedge whose apex is in the Ala Tau Mountains, and whose base, 
about three degrees south of this point, lies against the crest of the Tien Shan. 
It meets the old boundary at the Muzart (or Muz-daban) Pass. Since the treaty 



382 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

" for military expenses incurred by Russia in holding and pro- 
tecting 111 on behalf of China since the year 1871, and in satis- 
faction of all claims by Russian merchants for losses previously 
suffered by pillage within Chinese territory, and by Russians 
who have suffered outrage," the Chinese agreed to pay nine 
million roubles. This appears to have been less repugnant to 
oriental diplomacy than five millions in acknowledgment of 
getting back their borrowed property. As for the other points, 
the treaty does not seem to have been greatly altered, save in 
the Songari River and other more vexatious clauses. This treaty 
was ratified August 19, 1881. 

From domestic wars and political complications, the influ- 
ences of which have hardly as yet disappeared from our morning 
newspapers, our attention must be turned to the yet sadder 
spectacle of famine and pestilence. The occasional notices of a 
great scarcity of food in Northwestern China which drifted into 
the news items of western countries may still remain within the 
memory of many ; those, however, who live under the ascen- 
dancy of occidental institutions can with difficulty appreciate^ rom 
any mere description of this scourge, its immense influence as a 
factor in removing somewhat the suspicions of the ignorant and 
apathetic Chinese against their fellow- men in other lands. The 
sympathies and charities of the Christian world, as called forth 
by this terrible visitation, were more effectual in making accept- 
able the distasteful presence of foreigners within their cities 
than had been the united influence of two wars and a half- 
century of trade, diplomacy, and social intercourse. 

The Great Famine of 1878 was in some measure foretold 
over Shansi and Shensi by the decreasing rainfall of the four 
previous years. The peculiar nature of this loess-covered 
region, and its absolute dependence for fertility upon a suffL 
cient supply of moisture, has been pointed out in another chap- 
ter of this work. Here, then, and in Shantung the mission- 
aries of all denominations were called upon to organize methods 

strenuous efforts have been made by the officers of both nationalities stationed 
there to entice the Usbeck, Kirghis, and Dunganis of the region to settle; per- 
manently on their side of the boundary. 



THE GEE AT FAMINE OF 1878. 383 

of relief as early as the summer of 1877. By tlie opening of 
the following spring a central committee in Shanghai and their 
agents in Chif u and Tientsin — all Protestant and Roman Cath- 
olic missionaries — had put forth so great energy in their well- 
directed efforts as to gain the zealous co-operation of Li Hung- 
chang, governor-general of Chihli, and active coimtenance of 
the rulers and gentry in other provinces. "At the beginning 
of their labors," writes the secretary of the committee, " the 
distributors were received with a degree of prejudice and sus- 
picion which utterly frustrated any attempt to prosecute the 
work. They were supposed to have sinister objects in view, 
and not only was their charity refused, but they were even in 
imminent danger of their lives. It required the utmost careful- 
ness on their part to carry on their operations with any degree 
of success. They were urged to act in a way that contemplated 
the speedy exhaustion of their funds and their evacuation of 
the place. So far as we can ascertain, however, the distribu- 
tors conducted themselves in a most commendable manner, 
and after a time at least bore down the ill-will and aspersions 
of all classes, changing their sentiments and feelings of doubt 
and distrust into those of the deepest gratitude and respect, so 
that they are now regarded as the very saviours of the people." * 
After the experience of some weeks in the destitute regions, 
it was found that only the strictest adherence to a business sys- 
tem of distribution could be attended with any mitigation of the 
evil. Tickets representing certain amounts of money were given 
to the houses of each community which appeared on the cata- 
logues of needy families furnished by village elders. Food being 
plenty in the south, the means of transportation and storage 
during distribution constituted the chief labor of those con- 
cerned in this work. "When brought to the starving settlements, 
grain was promptly doled out in exchange for the tickets, and 
to the lasting credit of the Chinese character it must here be no- 
ticed that not a single raid upon the provisions or resort to force 
in any way has been recorded of these famished multitudes. 



1 Rev. W. Muirhead, in Report of the Cliina Famine Belief Fund, Shanghai, 
1879, p. 4. 



384 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

That good-will, affection, and gratitude should take the place 
of the old mistrust under these conditions was most natural. 1 
Nevertheless the terrors of their experiences in this awful time 
were hardly lightened by this cheering aspect of the curse. 
Misery and desolation such as this overwhelmed every other 
sentiment save that of compassion. The visitor was often met 
by the solitary remnant of a large household, to hear from him 
a harrowing recital of suffering and death, fitted to shock the 
most callous of humanity. Again, he would come upon the 
corpse of one recently fallen in the vain effort to walk to a 
neighboring town, and about it a lazy pack of wolves squatting 
— gorged and stupid from the fulness of many ghastly meals. 
At other times a silent dwelling might be found giving shelter 
only to the cadaverous bodies of its former inmates ; or anon a 
ruined house would tell where the timbers had been plucked 
out and sold for a little bread. Of the last extreme of famine, 
cannibalism, which cropped out here and there, but which in 
most cases met with instant punishment when discovered, it is 
hardly necessary to add notice or description. The remarkable 
patience under suffering exhibited by the people made their 
relief comparatively easy, though the despair which had rendered 
them insensible to excitement or violence often prevented their 
recuperation from the fever and plague which laid hold upon their 
weakened bodies even after plenty had returned to the land. 

In their report the committee at Shanghai acknowledge 
Tls. 204,560 as having passed through their hands, while about 
as much more may safely be said to have been otherwise ex- 
pended by foreigners for the relief of the sufferers. 2 The 
Chinese government furnished food and supplies amounting to 

1 A notable exception to this universal sentiment of kindliness was exhibited 
among the officials and gentry of Kaif ung, the capital of Honan, in which city 
foreigners were to the last forbidden to remain, or even to carry on their work 
in the environs, 

,J About $22,670 were subscribed in the United States — which does not in- 
clude, however, the donation from the Pacific slope. An effort was made to 
induce Congress to return on this occasion the surplus of the Chinese indemnity 
fund, amounting to nearly $600,000, but upon this the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs reported adversely, alleging among other reasons that all the starving 
people would be dead before the machinery of both nations would admit of 
this money being exchanged for food ! 



FOKEIGK EFFORTS TOWARD ITS RELIEF. 385 

more than Tls. 2,000,000, while rich natives contributed very 
largely in their own districts. Sixty-nine foreigners were per- 
sonally engaged upon the work of distribution in the fonr 
afflicted provinces, of whom Messrs. Hall, Hodge, Barradale, 
and Whiting died in consequence of exposure and overwork. 1 
Upon the mortality connected with this frightful visitation 
there exist but the vaguest figures. " The destruction as a 
whole is stated to be from nine and a half to thirteen millions,' 1 
observes the Report 2 already quoted, and its proofs in support 
of this statement are as trustworthy as any that can be compiled. 
!Ko famine is recorded in the history of any land which equalled 
this in death-rate. The area at the base of the Tibetan and 
Mongolian highlands will always be subject to great vicissitudes 
of heat and moisture, 3 and the future, like the past, cannot but 
suffer from these frightful droughts unless a careful attention 
to the climatic influence of trees and irrigation mitigate in some 
degree the dreadful comings of these plagues. 

The Chinese plenipotentiary in London, Kwoh Sung-tao, gave 
utterance to the sincere sentiments of his government in saying : 

The noble philanthropy which heard, in a far-distant country, the cry of 
suffering and hastened to its assistance, is too signal a recognition of the com- 
mon brotherhood of humanity ever to be forgotten, and is all the more worth y 
to be remembered because it is not a passing response to a generous emotion, 
but a continued effort, persevered in until, in sending the welcome rain, 
Heaven gave the assuring promise of returning plenty, and the sign that the 
brotherly succor was no longer required. Coming from Englishmen residing 
in all parts of the world, this spontaneous act of generosity made a deep im- 
pression on the government and people of China, which cannot but have the 
effect of more closely cementing the friendly relations which now so happily 
exist between China and Great Britain. But the hands that gave also assumed 
the arduous duty of administering the relief ; and here I would not forget to 
offer my grateful thanks and condolence to the families of those, and they are 
not a few, who nobly fell in distributing the fund. 4 

1 Mr. Whiting was honored by the governor of Shansi with a public funeral 
in Taiyuen, the provincial capital. 
3 P. 7. 

3 Mr. A. Hosie in the N. C. Br. R. A. S. Journal, Vol. XHL, 1878, has 
translated the native lists of more than eight hundred famines and droughts 
occurring in the Yangtsz' basin and northward on the Plateau during a thousand 
years ending a.d. 1643. 

4 Letter of October 14, 1878, to Lord Salisbury. 



386 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

One who has been acquainted with Chinese affairs for the last 
fifty years can better than younger persons appreciate from this 
letter the vast stride which has been made by China since the 
withdrawal of the East India Company's factory in 1834. The 
Empire had then been closed for more than a century, and its 
inhabitants had been taught to believe that all mankind outside of 
its boundaries were little better than ignorant savages. Their 
rulers had maintained that " barbarians could only be ruled by 
misrule," and in their honest efforts to keep them from entering 
the gates of the Celestial Empire in order that the people might 
not become contaminated, had faithfully though ineffectually 
endeavored to fulfil the first duty of every government. We 
have seen how small was their success when dealing with the 
iniquitous opium traffic ; no amount of moral or ethical prin- 
ciple in the cause which he represented could make up to Commis- 
sioner Lin for his ignorance and stiff-neckedness in pushing his 
injudicious methods of reforming this abuse. Had he succeeded 
as he and his imperial master had planned, they would have 
sealed their country against the only possible remedies for those 
evils they were striving to remove — free intercourse, commer- 
cial, intellectual, and political, with their fellow-men. 

The story of China's rapid progress from semi-barbarism 
toward her appropriate position among nations is now fully 
known to any whose interests have directed their attention 
thither. It cannot be denied that the advance has been ham- 
pered by the mass of superstitions, assumptions, and weaknesses 
through which every such stride to reformation must push for- 
ward ; nor is it strange that interested foreigners from their van- 
tage-ground of a more perfect civilization should at times bemoan 
the wearisome course and manifold errors of this regeneration. 
Nevertheless, hopeful signs abound on every side ; against a 
few errors may be balanced a multitude of genuine successes, 
and the fact that these latter have come about deliberately 
assures us that they are permanent. In the hands of statesmen 
as far-sighted and patriotic as those who now control the govern- 
ment, there is little cause to apprehend retrograde steps or a re- 
turn to the exclusive policy of Commissioners Lin and Yeh. As 
for the conservative spirit which yet characterizes the present 



THE CHINESE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION. 387 

regime, in this will be found the safeguard against extravagant 
and premature adoption of western machines, institutions, 
methods, dress, and the thousand adjuncts of modern European 
life which, if too rapidly applied to an effete and backward 
civilization, push it rather into bankruptcy and overthrow than 
out into a new existence. 

Before closing these volumes, and as an illustration of these 
observations, it remains to notice the so-called Chinese Educa- 
tion Commission — a highly lauded project which is still fresh 
in the minds of many Americans. Soon after the Tientsin 
riot and Chunghow's mission of apology, Yung Wing, a 
Chinese graduate of Yale College, proposed to Li Hung-chang 
and others in authority a plan of utilizing certain surplus 
moneys remaining from the fund for military stores, to defray 
the expenses of educating a number of Chinese boys in the 
United States. The scheme found such favor with the gover- 
nor-general and members of the Foreign Office, that early in 
the year 1872 thirty boys were selected by competitive exami- 
nation at Shanghai, and took passage for San Francisco July 
12th, Yung Wing having preceded them to make the neces- 
sary arrangements. This gentleman's acquaintance with the 
social life and educational methods in New England was so 
complete as to enable him readily to place the students — usually 
in pairs — in comfortable households, where they might learn 
English and become initiated into the manner of life among 
western peoples as agreeably as possible. 

The commission established its headquarters in Hartford and 
easily disposed their boys in adjoining towns of Connecticut 
and Massachusetts, where numbers of families welcomed them 
with open arms. Prince Kung's satisfaction upon learning of 
this friendly reception was expressed in a personal note of 
thanks to Mr. Low at Peking, while the fair prospects of the 
scheme now tended to hasten other parties of students to these 
shores until their number was swelled to one hundred and 
twenty. 1 These lads proved themselves almost without excep- 

1 The original plan included the sending of one hundred and fifty boys, hut 
the fund laid aside for the purpose was found to he insufficient to cover the 
cost of the full number. 



388 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

tion capable and active in the studies set before them, and as 
their hold upon the laDguage increased, began to outrank all 
but the brightest of their American classmates. As they ad- 
vanced into the higher scientific schools or colleges, greater 
liberty was allowed them, each boy pursuing his inclination as 
to a special course or institution. With the appointment of 
Yung Wing to the Chinese legation at Washington and the 
arrival of one Wu Tsz'-tang (who knew no English) as com- 
missioner in his place at Hartford, the complexion of this enter- 
prise seems to have changed. In the spring of 1881 a formal 
memorial, endorsed by Chin Lan-pin, the minister at Washing- 
ton, was addressed to the home government, complaining of 
the course of study pursued by these youths as including Latin 
and Greek and other unnecessary subjects ; of the disrespectful 
behavior of the boys when brought before their chiefs ; of 
their deplorable lack of patriotism ; of their forgetting their 
mother tongue, and other sins of omission and commission. 
The memorial seems to have fallen in with the desires of those 
momentarily in power at Peking ; the commission and students 
were all recalled by the return mail, and arrived at Shanghai 
in the fall of the same year. 

Although this action may have been in some degree 
prompted by a spirit of conservatism and distrust, the leading 
motive of the Chinese government cannot be far to seek. 
Had these boys of a dozen years each received his fifteen years 5 
instruction in our common- school, classical, and professional 
courses, it is impossible to believe that they would not at the 
end of this time have been more American than Chinese. 
Their speedy recall was a matter of regret to the many friends 
these interesting lads had made in New England, but from a 
truly Chinese stand-point this foreign popularity would be- 
come as the flesh-pots of Egypt to them after their return to 
the arid intellectual life in China — and the event in one or two 
instances appears to have proved the shrewdness of this sur- 
mise. However, this experiment can in no wise be considered 
a failure, even if we consider only the knowledge of English 
and elements of a western education obtained by each student ; 
how considerable has been its success will be seen when the 



PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE OF CHINA. 389 

young men — now engaged by their government in telegraph 
posts, arsenals, schools, etc. — shall have achieved sufficient dis- 
tinction in their various professions to prove their fitness for 
the pains bestowed upon them. The organization of schools 
for other than Chinese methods of education is already begun 
in China — as, for example, the Tung- wan Kwan, under charge 
of Dr. Martin, at Peking — and from these a much more 
rational advance to their proper position in scientific knowl- 
edge may be expected, than by hazardous schemes of foreign 
tuition. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS. 

Three occurrences of paramount importance constitute the 
main interest of the dozen years which followed those described 
in the preceding chapter. The first of these was a collision 
with France ; the second, a great wave of anti-foreign feeling 
which carried terror to the hearts of every European and 
American resident of the Middle Kingdom ; the third, a war 
with Japan, which, with incredible suddenness, swept China 
out of the list of the world's great powers, and set free all those 
elements of disaffection within the nation that have for a cen- 
tury threatened her political existence. Other happenings in 
this brief period are only important as intimations of progress, 
or the reverse, in her slow advance toward the ideals of mod- 
ern statecraft. They are indications rather than achievements, 
while these great events comprehend consequences direct and 
indirect that are likely to affect permanently her national des- 
tiny. Taking them up in the order of their coming it is nec- 
essary first to consider the position and policy of France in 
Southeastern Asia, and the causes that involved the Republic 
in hostilities with China. 

The beginning of French interest in Indo-China dates from 
the year 1787, when at the instigation of a patriotic missionary 
bishop, Monsignor Pigneaux de Behaine, the head of the exiled 
royal house of Annam, appealed to King Louis XYI. for as- 
sistance in regaining his throne. The outbreak of the French 
Kevolntion prevented the execution of the agreement then 
made, but the energetic missionary, fired by his ambition to 
recover for his country her lost foothold in Southern Asia, act- 
ually equipped two merchant ships at Pondicherry with war 
materials and officers sufficient to help King Gia Long de- 



THE FRENCH IN INDO-CHINA. 391 

feat the rebels and reconquer his dominions. In return for 
this help the sovereign, who now assumed the dignity of Em- 
peror, gave certain liberties to French and Spanish mission- 
aries, and hired French engineers to fortify his chief cities. 
His successors, however, persecuted the fathers and their con- 
verts, and it was not until the reign of Louis Napoleon that 
France could conveniently insist upon a strict observance of the 
terms of the treaty of 1787. In August, 1858, a French fleet 
destroyed the forts at Tourane, the seaport of Hue, but finding 
an advance upon the capital impracticable, abandoned this at- 
tempt and captured the town of Saigon in the South. 

Very little was then known about this portion of Asia, but 
it soon became manifest that the Annamese were disposed to 
resist to the uttermost this foreign occupation, and that in 
seizing Cochin-China, rather than Tongking, as a site for their 
colonial experiment, the French had miscalculated. It was 
hoped that the control of the Mekong delta would give them 
access to the whole inland district lying between Burma and 
the China Sea, besides tapping the trade of the populous prov- 
inces of Southern China. The publication of the results of 
an exploring expedition under Captain Doudart de Lagree 1 
showed, however, that the great river was unnavigable, but 
that a shorter waterway from Yunnan to the sea might be 
found in the Red River, or Song-koi (the Hong kiang or Yuan 
kiang of the Chinese), the chief stream of Tongking. 

The Saigon authorities were enthusiastic about the develop- 
ment of a French colonial empire, and their representations to 
the home government became more insistent as the deficit in 
the Cochin-Chinese budget developed. It was not a difficult 
matter to send a vessel to the Red River delta to investigate 
the pirates, then to irritate and terrify the local officials at the 
provincial capital, and thereby to create an occasion for armed 
intervention. Admiral Dnpre, the French Governor of Cochin- 
China, sent Lieutenant Gamier, in November, 1873, to Hanoi 
with a handful of soldiers to arbitrate in the matter. Gamier, 

1 Voyaged' exploration en Indo-GJdne effectue pendant les annees, 1866, 1867 et 
1868, par une commission franwise, par Fr. Gamier. 2 vols, and atlas. Paris, 
1873. 



392 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

who was in unscrupulousness and daring a survival of the six- 
teenth-century adventurers, showed his conception of the word 
arbitration by at once demanding of the Governor of Hanoi a 
treaty giving the French free sway in the delta, and because 
the Governor demurred, pleading no authority for such negoti- 
ations, the impetuous Frenchman proclaimed the Red River 
open to foreign commerce, and five days later took the citadel 
of Hanoi by assault. This was followed by the capture of 
nearly all the strong places between Hanoi and the sea. 
Within a month after his arrival the whole of lower Tongking 
lay at the mercy of the young lieutenant and some two hundred 
Frenchmen. 1 The Annamese, in their plight, called upon the 
suzerain state of China for protection, an appeal that China 
had exceptional opportunity in this instance for complying 
with at once. 

The French have repeatedly decried the pretensions of China 
with regard to Annam as a figment, but there is no proper 
reason to doubt the reality of the political relationship, or of 
Annam's recognition of her obligations to the court of Peking. 
The whole of this region was annexed (b.c. 214) by the great 
conqueror, Tsin Chi Hwangti, when feudal China was con- 
solidated and expanded to about her present limits. In time 
the outlying territories of this vast empire regained some de- 
gree of autonomy under sovereigns of their own, receiving in- 
vestiture from the Son of Heaven, but for the most part doing 
what they pleased at home. The settlement during many cen- 
turies of Chinese in the northern provinces of the Annamese 
empire has rendered this region quite Chinese as to population, 
with the result that its people have long looked rather to Pe- 
king than to Hue when protection or interference in their affairs 
is involved. The policy of China during the present century 
toward this, as toward other vassals, seems to have been to ex- 



1 Histoire de I 'intervention francaise au Tongking, par F. Roman et du Cail- 
laud, Paris, 1880. The narrative of the French adventurer, Dupuis, who 
was filibustering on the Song-koi at this time with a view to open the river to 
trade is found in the Bulletin de la Societe de Oeographie for July and August, 
1877, and in the Memoires de la Societe Academique Indo-Chinoise de Paris, 
Tome II. , 1879. 



CHINESE SUZERAINTY OVER ANNAM. 393 

act as little as possible from her dependents in the hope that 
they would call upon her as seldom as possible for aid. Yet 
when the safety of a subject state is really menaced by a for- 
eign power, she has not failed to fulfil in her mediaeval fashion 
the duties of liege. 1 

Besides their dependence upon Chinese rather than Anna- 
mese authority in case of need, the civil officials in Tongking 
had for many years maintained a precarious tenure, amid fre- 
quent rebellions, solely upon the suffrance of organized bands 
of outlaws and pirates who went under the general name of 
"Black Flags." These were originally scattered remnants of 
the Tai-ping rebels who fled to the wild regions along the 
southern borders of China to escape the rigorous persecution 
which followed them wherever the arm of the Chinese official 
could reach. Owing to the physical character of this country, 
as well as to the lawlessness of its people, the Black Flags lived 
upon dakoity and piracy, retreating to the mountains, or out 
to sea when hard pressed, but for the most part secure in their 
infamous business because willing occasionally to share their 
plunder with the mandarins on both sides of the border. 2 

It also happened that during the Mohammedan rebellion in 
Yunnan a considerable number of Chinese troops had been 
moved into Tongking to prevent the escape of the insurgents in 

1 China's claims to suzerainty over Korea were analogous to these, and are 
discussed later. In 1875 she became involved in a dispute with the Japan- 
ese Minister to Peking, because Lewchewan tribute-bearers were received by 
the Emperor when Japan's authority over the Islands had been virtually 
conceded by China. On this occasion the French Minister made strenuous 
efforts to have the Japanese Envoy lay the matter before his colleagues, but 
the foreign representatives in Peking declined to co-operate. — United States 
Foreign Relations, 1875, Part I., p. 314. 

8 Tongking, or Dongkinh, " Capital of the North," is another name for 
Hanoi, applied by extension to the thirteen northern provinces of Annam ; 
other names are Danghai, u Outside Kingdom ; " Baktanh, or Bakki, " King- 
dom of the North ; " and Yuan, the term employed in Cantonese ; Tonquin 
is a poor French effort to convey the sound Dongkinh. The province falls 
into three natural divisions, the delta, an isoseles triangle consisting of the 
low river basin — a fertile alluvial land covered with a network of rivers and 
canals — the plateaux north of this, rising steadily toward China and Laos to 
pine-clad mountains, and the forests in the northwest, mostly impenetrable 
jungle held by Laos and other aboriginal tribes. 



394 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

this direction — a right pertaining to China's suzerainty — and 
these regulars under a Chinese commander were now occupy- 
ing the towns of Bakninh and Sontai. There appears to have 
been some understanding between the Chinese garrisons and 
the Black Flags that enabled the latter to carry on their depre- 
dations with impunity, while the Chinese officers were not above 
acting in concert with them in face of the common enemy, the 
intruding French. The advantage of this arrangement was 
that the Imperial government could at its pleasure disavow 
any action which it was not convenient to acknowledge. Gov- 
ernor Dupre addressed requests to the Viceroys of Yunnan 
and the two Kwang to withdraw their troops frornAnnam on 
the beguiling ground that China ought not to bear the entire 
cost of policing the frontier, 1 while he advised the court at 
Hue that Gamier was sent to the Song-koi delta with no other 
object than " to convey to M. Dupuis [a French commercial 
adventurer entrenched with a small force above Hanoi] the or- 
der to withdraw, and to make him do so if he refused to obey 
with good grace." 2 

These preliminary explanations are of interest in view of the 
events that followed, and of the charge of treachery brought 
by the French against the Chinese. It is not surprising, when 
we recall the practically independent nature of a Viceroy's rule 
within his satrapy, that the Chinese governors paid no heed to 
Admiral Dupre's offer to share with him the responsibility of 
guarding the frontier, or that, when the Black Flags responded 
in large numbers to the Annamese appeal for aid, there were 
a good many Chinese braves among them. The new enemy 
swarmed down upon Garnier's garrison at Hanoi, now much 
depleted by detachments left to guard the various strongholds in 
the Delta, and after a succession of skirmishes lured the dash- 



1 " II n'est pas juste que je laisse a votre Excellence tout le fardeau de la 
protection des interets du commerce dans une region, le Tonkin, aussi voisine 
de Saigon." — Letter of Admiral Dupre to the Viceroy of the two Kwang, 
C. B. Norman, Tonkin, or France in the Far East, p. 102. 

2 Compare Paul Melon, Le Toriking. Les evenements de 1873 et 1874, etc., 
Paris, 1881 ; and P. de Villeneuve, Les affaires du Tonkin et le traite francais, 
Paris, 1874. 



LIEUTENANT GAKNIER IN TONGKING. 395 

ing lieutenant to his death in an ambush, driving the French 
back to the citadel in disorder (December 21st). Fortunately 
for the French, the negotiator appointed to repair the errors of 
Gamier, M. Philastre, was a man of honor and sense. He 
reached Hanoi a fortnight after the disaster, ordered the forts 
held by Garnier's troops to be evacuated, and arranged a treaty 
with Annam, providing for the free navigation of the Song-koi 
as far as Yunnan, the opening of Hanoi, Thinnai, and Ninh- 
ha to trade, and the establishment in them of consuls and 
their escorts to control Europeans, and if need were to refuse 
them permission to reside in the country ; a French Resident 
was in the future to live in Hue, and France was, in general, to 
treat the country as her own preserve, where no other foreign- 
ers need apply for admission. 1 

By the treat}' of 1874 France acquired a virtual protectorate 
over Tongking at the price of withdrawing her troops from the 
fortified towns, but owing to the disturbed condition of the 
country, the hatred of the Annamese, and the jealousy of the 
Chinese, this latter condition effectually vitiated the advan- 
tages which the French counted as already theirs. The contest 
became now one of diplomacy rather than of arms, since 
France was unable so soon after the prostration following upon 
her war with Germany to openly avow her intention of carv- 
ing out by sheer force an Indo-Chinese empire. China neither 
withdrew her claim to suzerainty over Annam nor her troops 
from Tongking, and when in 1876 the usual tribute-bearing 
embassy left Annam for Peking under the eyes of a French 
consul, he was, for prudential reasons, obliged to refrain from 
protesting. An occasion occurred in 1879 for China to exer- 
cise still more effectively her historical right to protect Annam, 
when King Tu Due called upon her, and not upon France, to 
suppress a rebellion in Tongking. Peace was restored by 
means of Chinese braves in January, 1880, 2 and French pres- 
tige further reduced in Southern Asia by the despatch of an- 

J The text of the treaty, ratified in August, 1874, is to be found in C. B. 
Norman's Tonkin, pp. 148-156 ; the author's reflections upon the conduct of 
both Dupre and Garnier are severe but not unjust. 

2 Decree published in the Peking Gazette of January 25, 1880. 



396 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

other mission of gratitude to the Emperor for his benevolence 
in a time of need. 

The affairs of Indo-China did not seriously interest the 
French nation. This anomalous and uncomfortable condition 
might have continued indefinitely, in spite of representations 
made by Frenchmen in the East, had it not been for the 
selection of M. de Freycinet, a believer in an aggressive for- 
eign policy, as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He initiated a 
plan, carried out subsequently by his successors, whereby the 
King of Annam should be made to understand by an adequate 
display of material force the real intent of the treaty of 1874. 
Early in 1882 the first instalment of French troops arrived in 
the China Sea, despatched under Commandant Henri Riviere 
to re-enforce the two companies of the consular guard which 
had been shut up in the provincial capital for more than a year. 
The new commander was bidden to avoid hostilities, but, like 
Gamier, he was a fighting man, and in a country where an- 
archy was rampant, a crisis was inevitable. 1 It was a melan- 
choly repetition of the man and the events of 1873. Riviere 
could obtain nothing from the Annamites except by force, and 
these were encouraged in their aggressive attitude both by 
fresh troops sent from China and by strengthened defences in 
their strong places. After a year spent chiefly in Hanoi, wait- 
ing for reinforcements, during which time the Black Flags 
swarmed about the city, cutting off stragglers and harassing 
the garrison, the commander determined to make a demonstra- 
tion, and on May 19, 1884, lost his life in a sortie, a victim to 
the same contempt of the enemy that had ended the career of 
Gamier." 

This disaster had the immediate effect of precipitating the 
conquest of Tongking. "What had been sent out as an expe- 
dition to give France " an honorable situation " in Asia be- 

1 Mr. Henry Norman describes Riviere as being " an extremely gallant, 
but very nervous, man, ambitious of literary honors, who had said, 4 Je m'en 
vaisparle Tonkin a 1' Academic' " — The Peoples and Politics of the Far East, 
p. 88. Compare Jules Gros, Origines de la eonquete du Tonkin, Paris, 1887. 

3 Hippolyte Gautier, Les Frangais au Tonkin, Paris, 1884, presents the 
French view of these events with the nearest approach to moderation. 



FEENCH CONQUEST AT TONGKING. 397 

came now the vanguard of an armed invasion. The Chamber 
at Paris voted credits for a sufficient army to accomplish its 
purpose, the capital of Annam itself was attacked and its 
sovereign, Tu Due's successor, made to sign a peace recogniz- 
ing the protectorate of France, and to destroy the seal of inves- 
titure which his predecessors had for centuries held as vassals 
of China. The court at Peking refused to recognize the va- 
lidity of the treaty of 1883, as they had that of 1874, and after 
declaring that an attack by the French npon the imperial gar- 
risons at Sontai or Bakninh would be considered as a casus 
belli, its minister, the Marquis Tsang, was withdrawn from 
Paris. Both cities were taken (December, 1883, and March, 
1884). A French army had met a Chinese army in open bat- 
tle, and Tongking was reduced to subjection, yet war was not 
declared. The Imperial government was startled but not dis- 
mayed at the rapid successes of the French. It displayed con- 
siderable activity in forwarding troops and accumulating war 
material, but, conscious of its military weakness, it did not vent- 
ure to invite a war. 1 

"While the French legislature voted fresh sums to continue a 
war which was not acknowledged to be a war, the feeling in 
Peking culminated in a sudden change of ministers, when " the 
Empress Regent took personal action and of her own motion 
deprived Prince Kung and several other ministers of all their 
offices, and imposed condign punishment upon all who were 
responsible for the failure in Tongking." 2 Prince Kung was 

i Three iron corvettes were ordered from Stettin, " but, though launched, 
the German government would not allow them to leave while the contro- 
versy between France and China continued unsettled. The observance of 
international duty was the more necessary as if was stated that the Chinese 
army had been brought to a state of high efficiency through the teaching of 
German officers, the French military instructors originally engaged having 
failed in their task." — Annual Register, 1883, p. 366. A few of the numer- 
ous French publications on this war are the Livrejaune, Affaires du Tonkin, 
two vols. , 1883 ; ditto, Expose de la situation, 1883 ; H. Cordier, Le consulat de 
France a Hue sous la restauration, 1884 ; Deschanel, La question du Tonkin, 
1883; Dick de Lonlay, L'Amiral Courbet etle "Bayard," 1885 ; L. Huard, 
La guerre illustree. Chine, Tonkin, Annam ; G. Lafitte, La verite sur le Ton- 
kin, etc., 1888. 

2 S. Lane Poole, Life of Sir Harry Parkes, Vol. II., p. 375. The fall of 



398 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

thus, after years of public service and in the prime of life, rele- 
gated to obscurity, and his place as head of foreign affairs 
taken by his brother, Prince Chun, the Seventh Prince, father 
of the reigning emperor. 

Under these circumstances, at the suggestion of Mr. Detring 
of the Chinese Customs Service, the French Admiral was put 
in communication with the Viceroy Li Hung-chang, who se- 
cured a rather grudging consent from the Imperial court to 
discuss terms of peace. * Captain Fournier was sent to Tien- 
tsin with the proper powers from his government, and on May 
11th the result of the negotiation was announced : France en- 
gaged to " protect the southern frontier of China " and to ask 
for no indemnity, in return for which China was to withdraw 
her troops from Tongking " immediately," to respect in the 
future treaties concluded between France and Annam, and 
allow trade along the whole extent of their conterminous fron- 
tiers in accordance with a tariff agreement to be subsequently 
made. This convention aroused extraordinary odium both in 
Paris and Peking. The Chinese objected because their suze- 
rainty over Annam had been reduced to a fiction, and forty- 
seven memorials are said to have been addressed to the Throne 
demanding the impeachment of Li as a traitor ; the French 
protested because the fiction of suzerainty was allowed to remain 
after eighteen months of hard campaigning ; and, among those 
less directly involved but not less concerned, the English saw 
with anxiety the southern provinces of China opened up for 
the exclusive benefit of their French rivals. 2 It is impossible 
to avoid the conclusion that France was poorly served in her 
diplomatic efforts at this juncture. There seems to have been 
some discussion at Tientsin as to the time allowed the Chinese 

Prince Kung was thought to mean the triumph of the war party in the 
palace, but the Empress, it appears on the authority of Sir Robert Hart, did 
not desire war with France, and dismissed her advisers for not informing her 
of the fall of Bakninh directly they received the news, while the mandarins 
were punished as a lesson to military men. 

1 R. K. Douglas, Life of Li Hung-chang, p. 208. 

9 Blue Book— China, No. 1 (1886). Correspondence respecting the French 
Treaty with Annam, and Negotiations between France and China, 56 



THE FOURNIER CONVENTION. 399 

to withdraw from Tongking. The Viceroy stipulated for 
three months, the Captain for three weeks. The latter is 
accused by the Chinese of having erased with his own hand 
the dates which he declares upon his honor were agreed to by 
Li and himself in a memorandum of May 17th. Before con- 
tradictions such as these, as a Frenchman once observed, " on 
salue et on passe ; " 1 but it would seem an obvious precaution 
in a diplomatist to see that a paper was signed by both parties 
before undertaking to carry out its intent. On the date named 
by the French negotiator (June 21st) Colonel Dugenne ap- 
peared before Langson and demanded its evacuation. The 
Chinese general plead want of instructions for such withdrawal, 
and in a communication — which no one in the French camp at 
the time could read — asked for ten days in which to refer to 
Peking. Dugenne, with a very inadequate force, thereupon 
tried to capture the place, and was driven back with heavy 
loss. 2 

Hostilities, which both sides had been willing to conclude, 
were now renewed with vigor. The fighting in Tongking be- 
came increasingly difficult as the tropical climate told upon 
the European troops, and as they were compelled to leave the 
Delta and follow the elusive enemy among the mountains and 
forests. Langson, the 'principal fortress on the northern fron- 
tier of Tongking, was not occupied by the French until Febru- 
ary 13, 1885. The Chinese in July again offered to renew 
negotiations, but the French, now thoroughly angry, only 
proposed impossible terms and closed their legation at Peking. 
Admiral Courbet, after announcing his orders to make reprisals 
for Langson, blockaded the coast of Formosa (August 1st), and 
two weeks later, taking advantage of the fact that no war was 
declared, passed the fortified estuary of the Min and assembled 
nine vessels of his fleet opposite the Chinese squadron and ar- 
senal below Foochow. On August 23d Courbet, having de- 
manded the immediate surrender of the fleet and forts and 

1 R. S. Gundry, China and Her Neighbours, p. 94. 

2 " It was only the desperate gallantry of the forty or fifty chasseurs d'Af- 
rique that saved the whole column from annihilation." — J. G. Scott, 
Francs and Tongking, p. 150. 



400 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

been refused, began firing upon the Chinese ships, numbering 
eleven, all of wood, and in seven minutes completed their de- 
struction. The utter incapacity of the Chinese may have been 
due to their foolish conviction that the French would never 
execute their threat in earnest, and the paralysis of fear that 
ensued when their entire fleet seemed to be going up in one 
explosion ; but no excuse can be offered for their commander, 
who allowed such a trap to be closed about him. The defence- 
less arsenal was then burned with all its machinery and stores, 
and a few days later the Mingan and the Kinpai forts stormed 
and taken from the rear. 1 This first act of reprisal accom- 
plished, the French, after some desultory raids along the coast, 
resumed operations against Formosa, captured Kelung (Octo- 
ber 4th), and did their best with the ships at their command to 
make the blockade of the island effective. 

The Chinese, despite their losses, showed a grim determina- 
tion to continue the contest. Under the spur of necessity they 
rallied their forces, repaired the Foochow defences, and made 
Port Arthur impregnable ; telegraph lines were rapidly 
stretched, connecting the capital with all parts of the Empire, 
and German officers were hired to drill the army. In Formosa, 
as well as Tongking, nature and numbers greatly assisted their 
efforts. The French found it impossible to penetrate far in- 
land in either place without covering the country with garri- 
sons, and this exhausted all their troops. After five vain attacks 
the Petao forts near Kelung were taken, 2 and in March, 1885, 
the French occupied the Pescadore group. Things were less 
satisfactory in Tongking. A guerilla war in such a country, 

1 This was the affair which Pierre Loti has called "la grande gloire de 
Fou-tcheou." An account of the attack appears in Deputy-Commissioner Car- 
ralPs Report, published by the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs. Shanghai, 
1885. The United States Minister, Mr. Young, was able to call the attention 
of the Tsung-li Yamun to the fact that about the only act of conspicuous gal- 
lantry in his Imperial Majesty's fleet was performed by some of the young 
Chinese students who had been educated in America and who had been 
ordered home on the plea that they had become " denationalized." — United 
States Foreign Relations, 1885, p. 144. 

3 A mutiny on board the Bayard during these operations is significant of 
the state of discipline and spirit in the French fleet. 



HOSTILITIES RENEWED. 401 

where, with no roads and no cavalry, it was almost impossible 
to follow the enemy, proved more than sufficient to satisfy the 
appetites of the French soldiers for a little glory. Langson 
had hardly been occupied after hard fighting when the French 
had to evacuate it (April, 1885) and withdraw all their troops 
to the Delta awaiting further reinforcements. The total array 
of French forces in Tongking when hostilities with China 
ceased was 43,000 men, including sailors, marines, and drilled 
natives, together with 75 vessels of all kinds. 

A contest which from lack of adequate motive had degen- 
erated into a series of buccaneering expeditions disguised as 
acts of forfeit or reprisal could not but seriously affect the 
affairs of all foreigners in China. The customary law of na- 
tions would not apply to regulate their action, since where there 
was no formal state of war, there could of course be no neutrals. 
Trade at Shanghai was prostrated through no fault of the 
powers, for, as the British minister wrote in reply to a request 
for neutralizing that port, " if this is to be effected by the action 
of the neutral powers, the latter must be prepared to take 
Shanghai into their hands and compel both French and Chi- 
nese to observe strict neutrality." 1 Complaints by both China 
and France, however, of the use by each of Hongkong as a 
practical base of operations at length aroused the British au- 
thorities to consider the blockade of Formosa the equivalent of a 
declaration of war. The provisions of the Foreign Enlistment 
Act were made to apply to both belligerents, but this, it must 
be observed, was not so rigorously enforced as a stern and un- 
bending neutrality would seem to require. The Chinese were 
altogether prohibited from repairing to the harbor, but, their 
own coasts being near, the inconvenience was not severe. The 
French, with no supply station of their own in these waters, 
were allowed to take sufficient coal and provisions to carry them 
to their nearest port, Saigon — all the difference to them between 
success and failure in their operations. The action of the Vice- 
roy of Kwangtung in obstructing both river passages to Canton 
so as to prevent the entry of foreign vessels called forth the pro- 

* Life of Partes, Vol. II., p. 379. 



402 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

tests of the legations in Peking, which eventually secured the 
partial removal of the barriers. 1 

Efforts to bring the contestants to discuss new terms were 
continued during the winter through the British legation with 
such success that by April 4, 1885, preliminaries of peace had 
been arranged at Peking between M. Billot and Sir Robert 
Hart, Inspector-General of the Chinese Customs Service. The 
embarrassments of the French were numerous. Tongking was 
theirs only so far as their soldiers occupied the ground ; none 
of their intentions had been realized ; China, indifferent to 
their troops in Formosa as in An nam, seemed impervious to 
anything short of an armed invasion ; such an attempt would 
require at least a corps oVarmee, perhaps two ; but the military 
organization of France was such that to mobilize a corps meant 
putting the whole stress of a foreign war upon the few de- 
partments whence the corps came, and "Tonkin" Ferry had 
already heard a good deal about the sons of France lying dead 
in the jungle. On the other hand, without the definite and 
crushing effect of such an invasion could the French hope to 
hold their own in the tropical wilds south of China, where the 
dispirited troops were likely to be overcome by the mere mul- 
titude of the enemy ? The situation was one calculated to 
check the jingoism of even the Ferry ministry, nor were the 
Chinese unaware of their antagonist's predicament. They 
were reaping now one of the advantages which they had only 
doubtfully anticipated in creating permanent legations abroad, 
and they needed no instruction as to making use of their 
knowledge of French domestic politics thus obtained. The 
French began negotiations firm in the conviction that the war 
ought to bring them a large indemnity and valuable concessions ; 
but the Chinese, knowing the difficulties that would beset the 
path of a French cabinet which asked for more men and money, 
held fast to their terms and achieved a diplomatic victory. 
The treaty concluded at Tientsin by M. Patenotre and Li 
Hung-chang, June 9th, on the basis of the preliminaries of 
April 4th, secured for France none of the great advantages she 

1 United States Foreign Relations, 1884, pp. 64, 66, 96. 



FRANCO-CHINESE TREATY OF 1886. 403 

had expected. It was substantially the same agreement that 
had been rejected twelve months before — Kelung and the Pes- 
cadores were to be evacuated, Annam was to have no diplo- 
matic relations except through France, 1 the frontier was to 
be delimited by a commission, two towns in Southern China, 
one beyond Laokai, the other beyond Langson, were to be 
opened to foreign trade and the residence of consuls, while a 
special trade agreement regulating traffic and dues was pro- 
vided for within three months. The trade arrangement was 
concluded and the treaty formally ratified at Paris in July, 
1S86. Its two most important articles gave merchandise pass- 
ing across the border one-fifth less duty on imports, and one- 
third less on exports than was exacted at other open ports. 
Trade in opium was totally prohibited. In what the French 
tried especially to secure, an indemnity for the cost of the war, 
a Resident at Tali fu, or some centre of Yunnan, the right to 
collect a poll-tax on Chinese immigrants to Tongking, and to 
build whatever railways China intended to introduce, they 
failed entirely. Thus ended what was euphuistically called 
" the simultaneous intervention in the affairs of Annam." At 
the end of the year 1885 a special commission was sitting at 
Paris to consider whether, on the whole, Tongking was worth 
keeping ; it had already cost the French nation some 250,000,- 
000 francs. 

So general was the dissatisfaction in France at the ostensible 
result of the war so far as commercial privileges were concerned, 
that M. Constans was sent to Peking in 1887 to renew the dis- 
cussion with the Chinese. He was measurably successful. 
In an Additional Convention, signed June 26, 1887, the prohi- 
bition of trade in opium was withdrawn, the south of China was 
made more accessible to French trade by opening Manghao as 
a third place for traffic in addition to Mangtsz' and Lun^ehow, 

1 But " En ce qui concerne les rapports entre la Chine et 1' Annam, il est en- 
tendu qu ils seront de nature a ne point porter atteinte a la dignite de I'Em- 
pire Chinois, eta ne donner lieu a aucune violation du present traite." Thus 
China's "face was saved."— Blue Book— China, No. 1 (1886); A. Daniel, 
ISAnnee politique, 1885, p. 128 ; for Ferry's defence of the convention, &&., 
1884, p. 91. 



404 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

already provided as treaty ports in Yunnan and Kwangsi, re- 
spectively, and import and export dues were slightly reduced 
on the schedule of 1886. But China retained her precious 
monopoly in salt, as well as a right to maintain consuls in cer- 
tain Tongking towns, besides securing the Paklung Promontory 
on the coast frontier, claimed by both. The hope that Tongking 
opium might compete with that from India in Southern China 
has not been fulfilled, and opium seems now likely to go from 
Yunnan to Tongking instead of the other way. The two new 
ports of entry mentioned were occupied by their consular and 
customs staffs in July, 1889. A French railway from the 
Song-koi to Langson has been built, and small steamers are 
able to pass the rapids to Laokai ; "but no trade of the kind 
expected has come" 1 thus far on the first route, indicating 
that there is more scope for developing traffic with Southwest- 
ern China than with the two Kwang provinces. On the other 
hand, the Red River commerce with Yunnan showed in 1895 
an increase of thirty per cent, over the previous year, the total 
amount being 12,000,000 francs. 

The Chinese government had now become convinced of the 
desirability of strengthening the country by the adoption of 
many Western economical devices, but it showed itself very 
reluctant to grant trading and financial concessions to foreign- 
ers. Still, signs of the long-expected "awakening" were not 
wanting. In 1882 it had given an intimation of a desire to 
conform to European customs by creating an Order of the 
Double Dragon, with insignia consisting of a jewelled star and 
ribbon, to be conferred only on distinguished foreigners. Much 
was also said about the construction of a system of railways, 
which, with the improvement of the navy and coast defence, 
scientific mining and manufactures, regulation of finances and 
encouragement of foreign studies, were part of the elaborate 

1 C. I. M. Customs Decennial Reports, 1882-91, pp. 653-680. The text of 
the Additional Convention is given in United States Foreign Relations, 1887, 
p. 232. Dr. L. Pichon in Un voyage au Yunnan, Paris, 1893, takes a much 
more optimistic view of the possibilities of the Red River ronte, though de- 
ploring the lack of enterprise shown by his countrymen in developing their 
opportunity here. 



THE SPIRIT OF PROGRESS IN CHINA. 405 

programme of reform outlined in the dying memorial of General 
Tso Tsung-tang to the Throne. 1 As though to prove to the 
world that these patriotic proposals were not to pass unheeded, 
Prince Chun, the head of the new Marine Board, emerged 
from the seclusion of the Palace and made, in the summer of 
1SS6, a journey of inspection to the fleet and arsenals at 
Tientsin and Port Arthur, reviewing the troops or the new 
model organized by Li Hung-chang, and learning for himself 
what had been already accomplished. The appearance in pub- 
lic of the first Prince of the Imperial House, and his reception 
of foreign representatives, did not fail to create a profound im- 
pression wherever this departure from ancient custom was 
known. Captain Lang, an Englishman, was made admiral of 
the Peiyang, or northern fleet, and entrusted with the duty 
of providing and training an adequate naval force in five years. 
The Nanyaiig, or southern fleet, with head-quarters at Foochow, 
was kept distinct from the other squadron, in conformity 
with the established practice of dividing responsibility and 
checking, if possible, any tendency to sedition. This arrange- 
ment was but one of a thousand indications of the appalling 
prevalence of corruption everywhere in official circles, a cause 
of the slow improvement in Chinese affairs, and of the lack of 
success in exploiting the most obviously profitable measures to 
develop the resources of the country. The dry rot of dis- 
honesty, having so long corrupted the body politic, was not to 
be eradicated by superficial and spasmodic efforts like these. 
Those best acquainted with Chinese character and institutions 
were least optimistic as to the regeneration that should spring 
from the adoption of modern armaments and the application 
of steam and electricit} 7 so long as these appliances were treated 
as costly toys by ignorant and prejudiced officials without the 
rudiments of technical education. 2 



1 Printed in full in United States Foreign Relations, 1885, p. 176. The 
collected works of botli Tso Tsung-tang and Tsang Kwoh-fan have been pub- 
lished in China since their deatbs. They are valuable for their information 
in regard to Chinese administration. 

2 A journey made in 1882 by Messrs. Colquhoun and Wahab from Canton 
across South China to Bahmo showed a sad condition of decay in a magnifi- 



406 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

While the Imperial ministers were contesting the excessive 
demands of France in 1885 an agreement was reached by 
Lord Salisbury and the Marquis Tsang, at London, amending 
the opium article of the Chifu convention of 1876, the terms 
of which had not been ratified. This compact, in a sense the 
last legacy of the Opium War, provided that the drug should 
pay besides the stipulated tariff (£30 per chest) a sum nut 
higher than £S0 per chest in lieu of likin, or internal transit 
dues. Though the additional tax appears enormous, the mer- 
chants were gainers by the bargain because of its fixed nature, 
the old system involving the indiscriminate levying of toll 
wherever a local mandarin was powerful or rapacious enough 
to erect a likin station. The practice of giving a voucher or 
transit pass to imported goods that had payed a fixed and rec- 
ognized tax at their port of entry, commended itself to the gov- 
ernment because the Imperial revenue thereby directly profited, 
while the old likin dues that escaped the clutch of dishonest 
officials went into provincial treasuries. This regulation of the 
opium trade was therefore only a belated application of a sys- 
tem that had for some time worked successfully in the case of 
other imports. 1 The solution of this problem was followed in 
1880 by the appointment by both these nations of commis- 
sioners " to enable the Chinese to protect their revenue with- 
out prejudice to the interests of the colony of Hongkong." 
That colony had become a nest of smugglers almost from its 
origin, but of late years the Chinese having provided them- 
selves with steam cruisers capable of effectively following 
pirates and smugglers, the Hongkong merchants complained 
that the revenue police unduly interfered with their legitimate 
junk trade. The commission, after declining the Chinese pro- 
posal to establish a Custom House in the colony, agreed to 

cent region, once populous and flourishing, brought to ruin by a rebellion 
that was due to the shameless robbery and corruption of officials. — A. R. Col- 
quhoun. Across Chryse., 2 vols., London, 1883. Compare also A. R. Ag- 
assiz's From Haiphong to Canton Overland, in Proceedings of the Roy. Geog. 
Soc, May, 1891. 

1 In 1890 the cultivation of the poppy in China, which had reached enor- 
mous proportions, was at length legalized— the final act in the long struggle 
against the inevitable. 



SMUGGLING AT HONGKONG AND MACAO. 407 

forbid the import and export of raw opium there in quantities 
less than one chest, except by the person who farmed the pre- 
pared-opium privilege, who could, of course, be properly con- 
trolled. A customs station was placed at Kowlung under the 
Inspector-General to issue opium clearances at the new rate 
and investigate complaints. 

The settlement of this business was conditional upon the 
consent of the authorities in Macao to an identical arrangement, 
and the co-operation of the two colonies in the same revenue 
district. This was effected in 1887 by a new treaty between 
China and Portugal that involved also the conclusion of an 
old controversy. Macao having been occupied by the Portu- 
guese and their descendants since 1537, had never ceased to be 
technically Chinese soil. At first the customary tribute from 
dependents was exacted by the Emperor every third year, but 
in 1582 this was commuted for an annual rental of Tls. 500 ; 
this was paid until 1849, since which time the town had been 
tacitly treated as Portuguese soil by China, though no open 
retraction of her historical claims could be extorted. She 
succeeded, however, in selling her nominal rights of sover- 
eignty and arrears of rent at a good price in the compact now 
made, the losses by smuggling in these waters having of late 
years reached alarming proportions. 1 Another change in 
political relationship about this time (1888) involved a com- 
plete alteration in the status of Poman Catholic missionaries 
in China. It had been the policy of Napoleon III. to consider 
all priests of the Propaganda of whatsoever nationality in the 
Far East as under the protection of France, a protection that, 
while never recognized by any treaty, was often extended to 
native converts. The war with France had lately shown what 
dangers lurked in this state of affairs. Priests from Italy, 
Spain, and Germany travelled under French passports, se- 
cured French intercession in complaints against mandarins, 
and were suspected of giving aid and information to French 
troops during their operations. It being impossible to obtain 

1 Chinese Recorder, April, 1889. The Portuguese appear to be steadily de- 
clining in wealth and numbers, the proportion of Chinese in Macao being as 
twelve to one. 



408 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

a permanent legation from the Curia to control the whole 
body of Papist missionaries, the various European governments 
were requested to take charge of their Catholic priests, as has 
always been customary in the case of Protestants. Ger- 
many and Italy immediately complied in withdrawing their 
subjects from French consular authority; the other Catholic 
countries were less prompt in making this assertion of proper 
national dignity, but their ultimate compliance has materially 
simplified the missionary problem in at least one phase. It is 
not unlikely that the way was in some degree prepared for this 
consummation by the removal, after long negotiation, of the 
Peitang Cathedral, which stood in Peking on an eminence 
overlooking the Imperial palace. The site was one that the 
French had claimed in 1860 as part of the old Catholic posses- 
sions in the capital, and the erection there of a large building 
had wounded the sensibilities and superstitions of the Chinese 
court and people alike. The tardy consent of the Lazarists to 
accept another and less offensive location for their establish- 
ment was so gratefully appreciated by the government as to 
influence for a time its attitude toward all Christian bodies and 
their converts. 

What might be called a temporary era of good feeling be- 
tween European and Chinese diplomatists, following the rather 
fortunate outcome of China's difficulties with France, was 
further marked in this year by an Anglo-Chinese convention 
as to Burma. In this agreement, signed at Peking, July 24, 
1886, Great Britain was given by China the same sort of ad- 
ministrative and official authority in Inner or " Independent " 
Burma that had recently been allowed France in Annam in 
consequence of a war. The Queen's Ministers thus obtained a 
practical advantage quite equal to that secured by a political 
and commercial rival in a vassal state where Chinese preten- 
sions to suzerainty were precisely similar ; and this advantage 
was the result of peaceful discussion instead of a costly and 
unsatisfactory war. This result was reached by two conces- 
sions on the part of Great Britain which are remarka' le as 
being the first of the kin 1 ever granted by a European power 
to China, and as an instance of the material benefit often to be 



BPwITISH CONCESSIONS TO CHINA. 409 

acquired in Asiatic intercourse by yielding enough for the 
Oriental " to save his face." By one of these stipulations the 
Emperor's formal suzerainty over Burma was recognized in 
allowing a decennial mission to be sent from that country, bear- 
ing a small tribute of produce to the court of the Grand Khan ; 
by the other, England consented to postpone until some con- 
venient season a mission of exploration to the capital of Tibet, 
which was about to start from India. Both of these conces- 
sions were the objects of criticism and abuse on the part of 
advocates of a pushing policy in the East; but, apart from 
those extreme doctrines of international philanthropy which 
would condemn war under any circumstances, it is difficult to 
see wherein Great Britain lost by these concessions to Asiatic 
prejudice, or by exchanging the substance of practical control 
for the shadow of a suzerainty that is nothing more than a dig- 
nified withdrawal in lieu of a humiliation hard to bear. 

Of somewhat the same character, as marking a new policy 
of conciliation toward China, were the negotiations which cul- 
minated this year in the restitution of Port Hamilton to Korea. 
This island, one of the .Nan-how group, lying in latitude 34° 
off the south coast of Korea, was conveniently situated in the 
Straits of Korea so as to at once control the southern entrance 
to the Japan Sea and serve as a naval station for a fleet oper- 
ating in the whole of the Hwang Hai, or Yellow Sea. Its posi- 
tion, therefore, concerned very intimately the interests of the 
three countries of Japan, Korea, and China, the latter as Korea's 
acknowledged suzerain — and it is improbable that the British 
Ministry telegraphed its order to Admiral Do well in April, 
18S5, to "occupy Port Hamilton and report proceedings" 
without a previous understanding with these powers. - Its ob- 
ject and theirs was to check Russia's suspected design of en- 
croaching upon Korean territory, either on the south coast or 
at the roadstead in Broughton Bay, to which their navigators 
had already given the Russian name of Port Lazaref ; the ag- 
gressive acts of Russian troops in seizing Pendjeh and other 
places on the Afghan frontier at this time made any suspick n 
of their intentions in Asia seem plausible to those who feared 
to be robbed or wronged. As a site for a fortress, Port llamil- 



410 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

ton does not appear to have been approved by a majority of 
the British navy. Its harbor was too accessible from the sea 
to be secure without the presence of a squadron, while its for- 
tification would involve heavy outlays. But while a discussion 
of these points was carried on in public, the secret purpose of 
this performance gradually transpired. During the year 1886 
the Czar's ministers intimated with increasing warmth to the 
Tsung-li Yamun their impatience at England's continued occu- 
pation of this place, and at length declared their intention of 
seizing in their own behalf some place in Korea unless she 
withdrew. It only remained for the British cabinet through 
the Chinese representative at London to offer to retire from the 
island upon receiving a guarantee that it should not be occu- 
pied by any other European power. China, through these 
negotiations, was not displeased at having her pretensions to 
lordship over Korea treated seriously by Western statesmen ; 
Japan was content to have her own freedom of action in these 
waters unhampered by the presence of any European ; while 
England gained her ostensible object of keeping Russia out of 
the Korean Strait and extracting a promise that she would in 
future respect the integrity of Korea. The British flag was 
hauled down at Port Hamilton, February 27, 1887. 1 

The assumption by the young Emperor, Kwangsii, of the 
reins of government occurred at the beginning of the thir- 
teenth year of his reign, February 7, 1887. In contrast to the 
precedent set in 1873, when Tungchi began to govern, the 
foreign legations received no formal notification of this event. 
A manifesto published in a Shanghai native paper, the 
Shimjpao, of March 11th — but not in the official organ, the 
Peking Gazette — recorded the fact that the Empress had de- 

1 Parliamentary Blue Book — China, No. 1 (1887), containing the documen- 
tary evidence of the episode in full. In a despatch, on p. 37, Sir J. Wal- 
sham informs Lord Iddesleigh that the Russian Minister to Peking "had 
been empowered to offer the additional assurance that, in the event of the 
English occupation of Port Hamilton ceasing, Russia would undertake not to 
interfere with Corean territory under any circumstances" — a promise full of 
interesting possibilities for the future of this state. The story of Port Ham- 
ilton is told by Mr. R. S. Gundry in the Westminster Review, and republished 
in Chap. X. of his China and Her Neighbours, London, 1893. 



THE EMPEROR KWANGSU. 411 

clared his Imperial Majesty to be fit to rule. " When I heard 
of the decree," the document continues in customary Oriental 
phraseology, " I trembled as if I were in mid-ocean, not know- 
ing where the land is. Her Majesty will, however, continue 
to advise me for a few years longer in important affairs of 
state. I shall not dare to be indolent, and, in obedience to the 
Empress's command, I have petitioned the Heaven and Earth 
and my Ancestors that I shall assume the administration of the 
government in person on the fifteenth day of the first moon, in 
the thirteenth year of my reign. Guided by the counsel of 
Her Majesty, everything will be done with care." The docil- 
ity of the young sovereign's character may be inferred from 
his willingness to remain in a state of tutelage after the ex- 
piry of the legal term, but too much stress must not be laid 
upon the language he was made to employ in the rescript. In 
accordance with the policy outlined in this document the Em- 
press Tsz' Hi continued in her regency until the month of 
March, 1889, when, having selected a bride for her Imperial 
Ward, she announced her intention of retiring from active par- 
ticipation in state affairs. These had been in her hands since 
the death of her husband, Hienfung, in 1861, and, considering 
the extraordinary difficulties of her position, powerless to 
emerge from the seclusion of a palace, and surrounded by igno- 
rant and often interested counsellors, had been managed with 
great ability. 

Since her formal retirement the Dowager Empress has no 
doubt exerted the influence due to a superior intellect and long 
experience, but to what extent she remains the power behind 
the throne is quite unknown. 1 The punishment of Li Hung- 

1 Colonel Charles Denby, United States Minister at Peking, sums up a resume 
of her career in the following laudatory but not extravagant words: "To 
her own people she has been kind and merciful, and to foreigners she has 
been just. She leaves her country at peace with all the world, and destined 
by her influence to grasp the benefactions of foreign intercourse, and to as- 
sume a commanding place among the nations of the earth. While her own 
people will always venerate and bless her, history will rank her among the 
greatest rulers of mankind." — United States Foreign Relations, 1889, p. 100. 
She selected for the Emperor's first wife Yeh-ho-na-la, daughter of her 
brother, General Kwaisiang, and consequently the boy's own cousin, his 



412 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

chang for visiting lier without the imperial permission, at the 
Ilai Tien Palace in the fall of 1896, indicates the existence of 
some jealousy of her continued influence in politics on the part 
of the Emperor. 

The conventional exchange of compliments between the for- 
eign representatives and the Foreign Office at 'Peking upon the 
double occasion of the Empress's retirement and the Emperor's 
nuptials calls for no comment except to note the banquet given 
by the Tsung-li Yamun to the ministers at command and in be- 
half of the Empress. This act of courtesy, which w T ould be 
considered a matter of course in Europe, had especial signifi- 
cance here as indicating on the part of the Court a willingness 
to emerge from its old attitude of superiority and to enter into 
that spirit of comity which its rulers began to understand must 
exist among nations as well as among individuals. In Decem- 
ber, 1890, in evident continuation of this amiable policy, there 
appeared an edict ordering an audience : 

In the first and second months of last year (it ran), when there were spe- 
cial reasons for expressing national joy, I received a gracious decree (from the 
Empress Dowager) ordering the Ministers of the Yamun for Foreign Affairs 
to entertain the Ministers of the foreign nations at a banquet. That occasion 
was a memorable and happy one. I have now been in charge of the Govern- 
ment for two years. The Ministers of foreign Powers ought to be received 
by me at an audience, and I hereby decree that the audience to be held be 
in accordance with that of the twelfth year of the reign of Tungchi (1873). 
It is also hereby decreed that a day be fixed every year for an audience, in 
order to show my desire to treat with honor all the Ministers of the foreign 
Powers resident in Peking, whether fully employed or temporarily in charge 
of the affairs of their governments. The Ministers of the Yamun for Foreign 
Affairs are hereby ordered to prepare in the first month of the ensuing New 
Year a memorial asking that a time for the audience may be fixed. On the 

mother being a sister of the Dowager Empress. An account of the marriage 
appears in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, July, 1889. The consort of a 
Chinese emperor has no official name bestowed upon her until ten years after 
her marriage, unless she has in the meantime given birth to a son. Then and 
at subsequent solemn occasions titles of honor are given to her, Tsz' Hi hav- 
ing in her long career accumulated seven of these, expressed by two charac- 
ters each. Their value derives from the fact that they entitle the recipient 
to Tls. 10,000 for each honorific character; thus the Dowager Empress se- 
cures an income of Tls. 140,000 for her long name. — Maurice Courant, La 
cour de Peking, p. 37, Paris, 1891. 



AUDIENCE NEGOTIATIONS. 413 

next day the Foreign Ministers are to be received at a banquet at the Foreign 
Office. The same is to be done every year in the first month, and the rule 
will be the same on each occasion. New Ministers coming will be received 
at this annual audience. 1 

The foreign diplomatic body had wisely refrained from 
pressing the matter of an audience after the Emperor's formal 
accession, with the result of a free proffer instead of a reluctant 
assent to the ceremony, as in 1873. This much was gain ; but 
there were some features in the case that left more to be de- 
sired. The foreigners had learned since their first memorable 
audience, wl*at had before been suspected, that the Tsz' Kwang 
Koh, the hall of that ceremony, was objectionable as being the 
place where his Majesty received his vassals. Other points of 
detail requiring patient discussion related to the manner in 
which the envoys should deliver their letters of credence, the 
right of newly arrived Ministers to an audience without wait- 
ing until the following New Year day, the presence at the 
function of the entire staff of each Minister, etc. Trivial as 
such matters may appear to the Western mind, they possess 
in the East an importance that among Caucasians is monopo- 
lized by the logomachy of theology. It was a recurrence in a 
familiar form of the old dispute that had marked the whole 
intercourse of China with the West — the ever-present idea of 
superiority in the one party, which must be met and van- 
quished by the reasonable arguments of the other. The net 
result of the discussion, in which the foreign representatives 
acted as a unit, was a compromise with a tendency toward im- 
provement in the future. The objectionable hall was accepted 
for the present, but was not to be again employed ; the Minis- 
ters were to be attended by their suites ; the letters were 
to be deposited near the Emperor, but not given into his own 
hand. The six foreign Ministers present at the capital were 
received separately and gave up their letters of credence at 
an audience, and immediately afterward they, with their staffs 
and the charges d'affaires of Spain, Russia, France, and Bel- 
gium, returned in a body to the imperial presence (March 

> Peking Gazette, December 12, 1890. 



414 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

5, 1891). The Chinese were reluctant to fulfil all that their 
promise implied as to a change of hall when next year the 
Austrian Minister presented his letter. A new building was 
selected, but not one within the sacred precincts of the Palace 
proper. The French and Russian envoys refused to accept 
this half measure, which was, however, allowed by those from 
Great Britain and Germany in two audiences during 1893. 
But under stress of the military reverses in the following year 
the end was attained, sooner perhaps than might have been 
expected, and on November 12, 1894, the foreigners were hon- 
orably conducted to the Wan-hwa-tien. It was the conclusion 
of a hundred years' struggle since the only other acceptable 
audience had occurred, that of the Emperor Kienlung and 
Lord McCartney, a period during which the rulers of China 
have often erred and been erred against, but in which they 
have fought sturdily for nothing as for this figment of suprem- 
acy represented in the audience dispute. The reluctant steps 
by which they have yielded point after point of etiquette are 
in a larger sense the stages of their advancement to modern 
political life ; " a survey of these successive stages may help 
us to realize the magnitude of the change in Chinese concep- 
tions since the Emperor ranked as the Solitary Man, and all 
the Princes of the world as tributaries and inferiors." 1 

Hopeful signs were not wanting in many parts that the Em- 
pire was at length really in control of those who realized that 
its political salvation depended upon its acceptance of certain 
Western institutions. The same year in which the Emperor 
attained his legal majority was signalized by the despatclfof a 
dozen officials abroad to study European civilization, and by 

1 R. S. Gun dry, China, Present and Past, p. 51, a volume containing much 
that is valuable and interesting about China's political circumstances. The 
documents in the audience question appear fully in the United States Foreign 
Relations, notably the volume for 1891. Mr. G. N. Curzon discusses the 
matter with his usual freedom from bias in his Problems of the Far East, 
pp. 285-296, and Dr. W. A. P. Martin touches it superficially, but with the 
authority of a long personal experience, in Chapter XIV. of his Cycle of 
Cathay, 189(5. Other phases of the historic question are treated in the au- 
thor's Life of S. Wells Williams, pp. 398 and 401, and A Sketch of Busso- 
Chinese Intercourse, printed in the New Englander for May, 1891. 



WESTERN SCIENCE AND RAILROADS. 415 

the recognition of mathematics as a subject for study and com- 
petition in the civil service examinations. The effects of the 
first of these plans were obviously destined to be confined to 
the small circle of mandarins whose personal ambition led 
them to direct their attention to the diplomatic service of 
their country ; of the second, however, much was reasonably 
expected, and it is but another indication of the enormous 
mass of inert ignorance needing to be quickened that from this 
leaven so little has yet come. To a memorial attributed to 
Prince Kung was due the Imperial Tungwan College at Pe- 
king as a means to educate some portion of the literati class 
in Western learning. But this institution, the prototype of 
which has been so influential in the destinies of Japan, has 
proved only indirectly effectual in the work proposed in China, 
and inadequate to reach the great multitude of educated men 
away from the capital. Twenty years after the launching of 
this scheme of Prince Kung, his brother, Prince Chun, showed 
his appreciation of his country's needs by authorizing the in- 
troduction of some forms of Western studies as a preparation 
for official preferment. The prejudices of the old literati were 
considered in making these studies optional in the examina- 
tions, but there can be no doubt but that the change, timid and 
trivial though it appear to a European, is adapted, if honestly 
applied, to produce a general and permanent impression upon 
the minds of the present and. coming generation. By this 
plan, moreover, the Tungwan College was to be supplied with 
a class of students better fitted for its higher courses, success- 
ful mathematical graduates in the metropolitan examinations 
being entitled to appointments to the college. But thus far it 
must be confessed the promising scheme, though officially pro- 
mulgated, has practically been of no avail. 1 

Even this modest encouragement is denied to those who 
have set their hearts upon the speedy introduction of railroads 
in the Empire. Many promises have been made to this end 

1 " Some mandarin more enlightened than the rest tries to get students in 
his neighborhood to take it up ; but the practical effect upon the tone of the 
examinations has been next to null." — Gundry, China, Past and Present, p. 
67. United States Foreign Relations, 1887, pp. 221 and 227. 



416 HISTOPwY OF CHINA. 

by those in high places, and some fitful beginnings undertaken, 
but the magnitude of vested interests involved in this tremen- 
dous economic change has set the mandarins and people against 
it. Li Hung-chang has been, perhaps, the most powerful, as 
he has certainly been the most effective, advocate of a com- 
plete system of rail communication in China. A line covering 
part of the way to the Kaiping coal mines was quietly and 
rather slyly put through in 1883 by this energetic viceroy, and 
two years later he is credited with having won the boy-Emper- 
or's heart by sending him a complete working model of a lo- 
comotive, passenger train, and rails to be laid down and run 
in the Palace garden. Schemes were outlined in this year and 
renewed in 1887 for four main lines — from Peking to Tientsin 
and the coast ; from Tientsin to Chinkiang, or Nanking ; from 
Nanking to Ilangchow, or Shanghai ; and from Canton to 
banning on the southern frontier. These projects were all 
abandoned, but in October, 1888, a road was opened from 
Tientsin past Taku to Kaiping, a distance of about ninety 
miles. This has been extended and successfully operated ever 
since. The war with Japan effectually converted many doubt- 
ers in China, and lines from Tientsin to Hankow, to Peking, 
and to Manchuria are now ordered for strategic purposes, that 
in the latter direction, passing Shan-hai kwan, being at the 
end of the year 1896 completed for a distance of over two 
hundred miles. 1 In October, 1896, Russia was given permis- 
sion to connect the trans-Siberian railway with the sea at 
Niuchwang or Port Arthur by constructing a line across Mon- 
golia from Kiakhta, and also to join this road with Vladivostok 
vialvirin, the stations to be guarded by Russian troops. Such 
a compact, of course, involves a temporary protectorate exer- 
cised by Russia over all Manchuria. The roads operated at 
Tientsin are already profitable. 

To the evidences of political and industrial improvement 

1 United States Foreign Relations, 1883. p. 199 ; 1885, p. 180 ; 1887, p. 208 ; 
1889, p. 79, etc. Annual Register, 1887, and passim. The periodical publica- 
tions are almost the only sources of information upon the subject thus far ac- 
cessible. BlackicoorVs Mag., March, 1894, p. 394; Nineteenth Century, Vol. 
27, p. 225(1890); Le Correspondanl, 25 Mai, 1890, pp. 735-762. 



THE YELLOW EIVER INUNDATION. 417 

which mark the year 1887 in China must he added some no- 
tice of an overflow of the Yellow River occurring in Septem- 
her, which for sheer destruction in life and property has per- 
haps hardly been equalled by any sadden cataclysm remembered 
in modern history. The waters of this great stream had found 
their way through the embankments raised along either side of 
its lower course and flooded the low-lying region of Western 
Shantung for a period of several years. It was evidently ap- 
proaching one of its periodical climaxes when, having silted up 
its bed to the upper level of the embankments, and consider- 
ably above that of the surrounding country, the river sought a 
new outlet to the sea. Nor were the officials unmindful of the 
danger. They worked with energy upon the great dykes 
which rise in some places to a height of fifty feet above the 
plain, but these, by reason of the erosion of the current, of 
careless construction, and in certain spots of wilful cutting for 
the convenience of roads leading to fords and ferries across 
the stream, were inadequate to stand the strain of an unusual 
freshet. In the month of September the floods broke through 
their artificial bounds at a point where the river emerges from 
the loess hills west of Kaifung fu, and poured a torrent a mile 
wide and forty feet deep over the alluvial plain of Honan south 
of its course. The fertile country w T as first swept clean by the 
mighty rush and then turned into a vast lake. Every human 
habitation, and all vestiges of its former agricultural prosper- 
ity, in a district half the size of Scotland, disappeared in a few 
days. Nor was this all ; for spreading gradually over the flat 
lands of Northern Nganhwui and Central Kiangsu the waters 
finally turned into the Ko and Hwai Rivers, flooding Lake 
Hung-tsih, and thence reached the sea at the old mouth of the 
Yellow River, or by small streams and canals poured south 
into the Yangtsz'. Only very general estimates can be made 
of the actual loss of life and property and of the area submerged. 
The entire region was immensely fertile and swarmed with vil- 
lages. It is not improbable that it exceeded fifty thousand square 
miles in extent, all more or less affected, and that the number 
drowned was at least a million, while this figure must be multi- 
plied by four or five to cover the diminution in the population 



418 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

of these provinces caused directly by the floods and their inevi- 
table attendants, famine, destitution, and disease. With the 
poor means at their command the officials were powerless to 
deal with the disaster, though the government and many pri- 
vate individuals contributed liberally to support the starving 
survivors. Despite every effort on the part of mandarins, 
who knew that their political future depended upon their suc- 
cess, the breach could not be closed by the ensuing summer, and 
a fresh outburst of the flood in 1888 brought about a new 
and appalling catastrophe. The unsuccessful officials were dis- 
graced, but nothing was allowed to interrupt the work of re- 
pair. At length, by throwing in stones to form a temporary 
breakwater above the breach, the main current of the stream 
was diverted and the dyke repaired. 

On the 17th. [January, 1889. says the Peking Gazette,] the embankment 
heads were united by cables stretched across, and on the 20th, after two days 
and nights of unremitting exertions, the narrow opening remaining was com- 
pletely closed, all the waters of the river flowing away in the old channel. 
The Emperor feels that this speedy success is due to the unseen aid of Heaven 
and the gods. As a sign of his deep gratitude he sends ten sticks of Tibetan 
incense, which he desires Wu Ta-chang to offer with prayers and thanks, on 
his behalf, at the temple of the river gods in the vicinity of the works. 

But to all suggestions as to the desirability of allowing the 
river to retain its new course and providing for the future by 
a series of engineering works planned by foreign experts, the 
authorities remained indifferent and obdurate. Doubtless in 
addition to their natural conservatism they perceived the danger 
of an uprising on the part of the Honan land-holders, whose 
farms would thus be taken from them and whose suspicions 
would inevitably be aroused against the government by the 
application to this old source of danger of new remedies which 
they did not understand. In spite of herself, China must 
continue to nurse her old " sorrow." 1 

J The Peking Gazette for 1887-89 has many documents upon this subject 
highly interesting to the student of Chinese government. The North China - 
Herald, published at Shanghai, contains the fullest accounts of eye-witnesses 
to the floods and relief measures. See also the Chinese Recorder, March, 1888. 
General J. H. Wilson's China, Chapter XVI. R. S. Gundry, China, Present 



REACTIONARY TENDENCIES. 419 

Those who were able to watch closely the course of events 
in China during this decade, discerned a distinct inclination, 
after the restoration of friendly intercourse with France, tow- 
ard a policy of cordial relations with Western powers. This 
period was marked by the political ascendancy of such liberal 
statesmen as Li Hung-chang, Chang Chi-tung, and Lin Ming- 
chuan, supported at head-quarters by the resolute old Empress 
and Prince Chun, the Emperor's father, who indeed was con- 
verted to a more forward policy during the interval. But 
with the inevitable tendency to reaction after a term of 
activity that characterizes the careers of all nations alike, 
the conservatives of China erelong succeeded in checking the 
hopeful efforts of this progressive group, and by the year 1888 
they had fully turned the tide of public opinion against the 
new programme of ■ Western improvements and reform. In a 
country where the conduct of affairs is vested entirely in an 
intellectual aristocracy, as in the Middle Kingdom, it is easy 
to arouse this controlling element to vehement and united 
action by the cry that its interests are threatened, and, when 
once aroused, there is no other class in the community that 
possesses any capacity whatever for organized resistance. It 
is only necessary to show that a reform is liable to touch the 
prestige or personal profit of the literati to array against it the 
unanimous action of the whole body. And in some of the re- 
forms now inaugurated the interests of the men of official 
standing were very materially affected. The Maritime Customs 
service had long; taken a lucrative source of gain from their 
clutches, and now to this hardship was added that of compro- 
mising the likin dues by a lump sum paid to this service at 
the treaty ports. The projected railways moreover threatened 
to further curtail the transit dues on roads and rivers which en- 
riched local officers, especially in the great business of trans- 
porting the tribute rice to the capital, a source of large illicit 
profit to those concerned. The conduct of the army and navy 
and the management of ship-yards and arsenals were also to be 

and Past, Chapter XV. A valuable monograph on Le canal imperial ; etude 
historique et descriptive, par le P. Domin. Gaudar, S. J., appears in Varietes 
Sinologiques, No. 4, Shanghai, 1894. 



420 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

reorganized upon European principles. One by one their old 
privileges were being denied them, and in each case the origin 
of their grievance could be traced directly to this odious and 
nn- Asiatic foreign influence. 

Spurred on by their fears, the jealousy and hatred of the 
literati toward foreigners presently materialized into a policy 
of resistance to all measures that traced their origin to the out- 
side world, and of concerted movement against any foreigners 
living in the country who could be safely and conveniently at- 
tacked. Their vengeance was wreaked chiefly upon mission- 
aries living in the interior, and the disturbances that followed 
have, in consequence, been called the anti-missionary riots. It 
does not appear, however, that the missionaries were odious be- 
cause of their creed, but on account of their race. They had 
to face the attack in its severest form, involving, in the aggre- 
gate, an enormous loss of property, but a comparatively small 
loss of life, because as a class they were more isolated and ex- 
posed than other foreigners. 

A complete list of these casualties would be impossible here, 
but some notice of the more recent and notable among them 
is necessary before proceeding to a discussion of their probable 
motive. In 1883-84 a series of riots resulted in the destruction 
altogether of eighteen Christian chapels in Kwangtung prov- 
ince, the direct incentive to this work, as afterward learned, 
being an inflammatory proclamation issued by the governor- 
general and the admiral of the Southern fleet. Between the 
years 1885 and 1890 there were continual troubles in Shantung 
province, " where a German consul, sent to investigate, found 
the chief instigator to be a member of the Tsung-li Yamun 
itself." Other troubles arose in Kiangsi. In Sz'chuen prov- 
ince, where the antipathy of the mandrinate to foreigners has 
always been especially strong, a series of riots attended by loot- 
ing occurred during the years 1886-90, when Catholic and 
Protestant missionary establishments in many places were de- 
stroyed and converts persecuted, while the rioters surged about 
the country side proclaiming that they had orders from the 
Emperor and the magistrates to root out and destroy Chris- 
tianity. The government at Peking, when appealed to, com- 



ANTI-FOREIGN RIOTS. 421 

pensated the missionaries for the loss of their houses, and ac- 
knowledged their right under their treaties to rebuild : but as 
the new chapels and schools were erected, angry gangs again 
sprang up to burn them, in one place the premises being de- 
stroyed three times within four years. An ominous feature in 
these events was not the violence but the pertinacity of the 
mobs, which seemed to be always on hand to execute, whenever 
occasion demanded, their threats of driving out the Christians. 
It also happened that the judicial investigations following these 
repeated outbursts were so grossly partial as to make legal re- 
dress a mockery. The wretched native converts, appealing to the 
commissioner for protection, were exhorted in full tribunal to 
apostatize, when they were promised all the protection they 
wished. It was palpably the purpose of the judges there to 
render the province too uncomfortable for foreigners, includ- 
ing all missionaries and converts, an object which, owing to its 
remoteness from the capital and the weakness of the central 
authority, they have temporarily at least, almost accomplished. 
In 1895-96 all Christian missionaries, after renewed persecu- 
tions, which will be considered later, were actually expelled 
from the capital and other towns of the province, though after- 
ward reinstated by imperial command. 

In Wuhu, a treaty port on the Yangtsz', about midway be- 
tween Chingkiang and Kiukiang, a riot occurred in May, 1891, 
beginning the series which, spreading up and down the Great 
River during this and the following year, brought a feeling of 
insecurity to every foreigner in the Empire. Here the phe- 
nomena attending the uprising could be more closely observed. 
There seem to have been rumors of trouble floating about the 
community for some time before the outbreak, but nothing 
that seriously alarmed foreigners living there. On a Sunday 
two Chinese sisters of the Jesuit Mission were accosted in 
the street by some beggars asking alms in the usual wav. 
They stopped to pat two urchins on the head and inquire what 
they wanted, when, with a cry that the foreign devils were 
bewitching them, a furious multitude that had apparently 
sprung up from nowhere in a moment, hurled themselves upon 
the women and carried them for punishment to the magis- 



422 HISTOEY OF CHINA. 

trate. He succeeded in appeasing the people for the nonce 
only. Two days later the mob broke down the gates and walls 
of the Jesuit Mission, and, digging up the bodies of some 
foundlings recently buried in the compound, declared that they 
saw evidence of their having been cut up for medicine. In an 
hour the whole pile of buildings w r as in flames, and by night- 
fall the crowd was attacking the British Consulate, the Impe- 
rial Customs buildings, and other houses occupied by foreign- 
ers; fortunately their inmates were rescued on board a steamer 
hulk. The Customs house was successfully defended against 
the mob until the fortunate arrival of three Chinese men-of- 
war steaming up the river on the following day drove the 
rioters off by firing a broadside or two, and quiet was restored. 1 
Here the notable features of the rising were, first, the es- 
pecial virulence of the populace against the Roman Catholics, 
all of whose buildings, including a fine cathedral, were looted 
and destroyed, and second, the determined attack against the 
Consulate and Customs establishments, which had no connection 
with missionary work. The calumnies against the Catholics 
were a repetition of those heard in the Tientsin riot of 18T0, 
and often elsewhere; 2 they received (and still receive through- 
out China) the same fanatical credence that was given to witch 
stories in Europe and America during the eighteenth century. 
A placard posted about the streets of Wuhu immediately after 
the emente is worth quoting as embodying some of the crude 
conceptions rampant everywhere among the people. 

The country is betrayed and the people are ruined ! Human beings are 
trampled down and reduced to dust. Such being the state of affairs we 
humbly beg to state the following. Wuhu is a treaty port thickly populated 
with foreigners, who cause people injury to such an extent tbat it is impos- 
sible for the pen to fully describe. Lately the Roman Catbolic Mission are 
building churches in every portion of the place. Every convert is paid a 
monthly sum of $6, and it is by such means that ignorant males and females 
are led to enter the churches where men and women congregate together 
without discrimination. This breach of morality and custom is in itself a 

1 The British acting consul-general, however, writes that these vessels, 
"by their mere presence and an occasional blank shot overawed the rioters." 
—Parliamentary Blue Book— China, No. 3 (1891), p. 4. 

2 Middle Kingdom, Vol. II., pp. 311 and 702 ff. 



THE OUTBREAK AT WUHU. 423 

violation of tlie fixed laws of the State. Now women are procured from other 
places and are paid to abduct children whose eyes and intestines are taken 
out, and whose heart and kidneys are cut off. What crimes have these in- 
nocent children committed that they should suffer such horrible deaths ? 
What makes it more lamentable is that when a child is stolen the child's 
family also perish. The loss of one's own flesh and blood is so deeply felt 
that the acute mental pain drives one to wish for death— quick apoplexy or 
suicide generally follows. But their [the Roman Catholics] sins have reached 
the limit, and the vengeance of Heaven is ready to burst forth. On the 3d 
of this moon two female child-thieves went to Honan and abducted a child 
by drugging him. The child's mother saw the act and called out to him, but 
he was unable to speak, looking stultified. The people, on apprehending 
the two abductresses, discovered on their persons two bottles containing 
drugs for stupefying children. They were taken to Pao-chia-chu [the street 
patrol's office] and thence to the magistrate's yamen. The Romanist priests 
hearing of the matter at once sent a bribe of 600 taels to the magis- 
trate, who on receiving the money returned the two abductresses in sedan 
chairs to the church. The priests of the Roman Catholic Chureh steal and 
kill Chinese children, and their crimes should have been expiated with death 
punishment ; but the god of wealth bought off their lives. Money is supe- 
rior to law, the precious Code and Golden Rules are misapplied. It shows the 
[magistrates'] intention of exterminating our Chinese race, and of assisting 
barbarian thieves. 

This manifesto, after detailing other incidents and reflect- 
ing upon the corrupt magistracy, urges the people to complete 
the destruction so well begun and drive the foreigners out of 
the district. From the tone of this and other documents, some 
of them grossly scurrilous, scattered broadcast through Cen- 
tral China, it was evident that a concerted movement against 
foreigners was afoot. The leaders of the mob, where they 
could be detected, seemed to be men of distinction who carried 
small red flags — as had been the case in a riot at Hankow in 
1883 — and who gave orders as though accustomed to com- 
mand. That -there was collusion with the mandarins, all the 
way up to the governor-general, was abundantly evident, 
though this was of course a matter difficult of proof in most 
instances. 1 There were few cases where the mob escaped 
from control, even when in the fury of robbery and destruc- 
tion, a fact in itself as significant of official connivance in 
China as in Turkey. 

1 Copies of the most incendiary and indecent broadsides distributed among 
the people were found in numbers in the magistrates' yamens. 



424 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

An outbreak of the same sort at Yangchow in Kiangsu was 
attempted on May 9th, but was promptly suppressed by Chinese 
troops. At Nanking, however, while the foreign women and 
children were leaving the city, in obedience to warnings re- 
ceived the day before, the missionaries' houses and hospital 
were set upon by a mob and only saved from destruction by 
the energy of an American who held the natives at bay until 
relieved by the arrival of troops. At Tanyang, on June 1st, 
the rioters succeeded in overpowering a military mandarin sent 
to preserve order at the Catholic Mission, and, after demolish- 
ing all the buildings, dug up the Christian cemetery and heaped 
the bones together " to the accompaniment of the usual calum- 
nious and abusive shouts." Worse still were the events that 
occurred four days later at Wusueh, a flourishing trading town 
on the Yangtsz', thirty miles above Kiukiang. In this instance 
the blow seems to have fallen upon the foreigners quite un- 
expectedly, despite the rumors now everywhere current of a 
plan for their general massacre. " Here," we are told, " the 
Wesleyan Mission has been peaceably established for nearly 
twenty years, so peaceably that one is never called ' Foreign 
Devil ' on the streets, and ladies go out without foreign escort, 
often even for thirty miles inland to Kwnngchi hien, where 
also a married missionary lives." The disturbance began with 
the already familiar cry that a kidnapper was carrying dying 
babies to the Catholic foundling home at Kiukiang. A crowd 
collected with a rapidity which only those acquainted with 
Chinese town life can appreciate, smothered one of the hapless 
infants in the scuffle, and then turned upon the Wesleyan Mis- 
sion establishment, which at the moment was occupied by only 
two English ladies and their children. These were terribly 
beaten and barely escaped with their lives. Two Englishmen, 
a newly arrived missionary and an employee of the Customs 
service, in attempting to rescue them, were murdered and hor- 
ribly mutilated in the streets, while the buildings were, as 
usual, destroyed. A striking incident in this turmoil was the 
attempt of a Chinese subordinate official, having the title of 
lung-j)ing-sz\ to stop the mischief at its height by offering 
himself and his house as a vicarious sacrifice to the mob. They 



DISTURBANCES AT WUSTJEH AND ICHANG. 425 

took him at his word, beat him nearly to death, burnt his 
dwelling, and continued their hunt for the foreigners. 

Other convulsions of precisely similar character took place 
during this summer in Nganking, Kiukiang, Wusieh (on the 
Grand Canal), Yanking, Haiman, and Tankao in Kiangsu, and 
other localities in the Yangtsz' valley, none of them, however, 
attended with loss of life. One at Ichang, a port on the river 
three hundred and sixy-five miles above Hankow, first opened 
to foreign trade in 1887, involved the complete demolishment of 
every missionary building in the city, while the British Con- 
sulate and Customs offices were spared. Here, too, the local au- 
thorities seemed strangely incompetent to cope with the rioters, 
though the number of these was small and the populace was only 
concerned in the disturbance in so far as the rabble were 
tempted by a share in the plunder. Here, too, as in several 
other places un uniformed Chinese soldiers were recognized 
among the most active incendiaries, and their methodical fash- 
ion of destruction indicated pretty clearly the presence of lead- 
ers whose orders were implicitly obeyed. It is to be noted 
in connection with the Ichang outbreak that Chungking, three 
hundred and sixty miles above Ichang, the head-qnarters of 
traffic in the upper waters of the Yangtsz', was this summer, 
after } T ears of negotiation, included among the treaty ports, to 
the dissatisfaction and alarm of all Western China. 

An outrage which occurred near Kirin, the capital of Man- 
cliuria, in August of this year, though apparently unconnected 
with the riots along the Yangtsz', deserves mention here as an 
instance of anti-foreign feeling in other parts of the Empire. 
A missionary physician, Dr. J. A. Greig, while on his rounds 
in the country was seized and mercilessly beaten by some sol- 
diers of the Tartar general's body-guard. The familiar charge 
of child-stealing was brought against him, and for three days 
he was kept captive, in imminent peril of his life ; but here, 
again, as in many other instances, interference from higher au- 
thorities saved him and he was sent back to Kirin. This affair 
may perhaps have had some connection with an insurrection 
that broke out in Eastern Mongolia, when bands of brigands, 
in November, attacked several villages of Christian converts, 



426 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

destroying all their property and several hundred lives. The 
movement appears to have been started by some fanatical sects 
who aroused the Chinese population against the Christians — 
chiefly Mongols — by circulating the customary tales of kidnap- 
ping and heinous rites, but it soon attained the proportions of 
a rebellion that cost the government a serious effort to quell. 
At its suppression, in January, 1892, after the extermination of 
20,000 insurgents, condign punishment was visited upon the 
three local magistrates responsible for the towns where the 
emeute began, on account of their remissness in checking the 
movement at its inception by publicly denying the baseless 
rumors against Christians. 1 

Though no year since 1891 has shown quite so distressing and 
widespread a series of overt acts against foreigners living in 
the interior of China, there has been none the less evidently a 
general reaction against them in all places where they did not 
enjoy the protection of their own men-of-war, or of armed vol- 
unteers sufficient!} 7 numerous to inspire respect. Anti-foreign 
publications continued to circulate, especially along the Yangtsz' 
towns, in spite of protests from the foreign representatives and 
the publication of imperial edicts forbidding their dissemina- 
tion. In 1893, at Sungpu, sixty miles from Hankow, two 
Swedish missionaries were surrounded by a frantic mob and 
murdered under circumstances of peculiar atrocity. This time 
the government acted with promptness and energy, and, after a 
rigorous examination, ordered the punishment of such ring- 
leaders as were apprehended. But the trial was hardly better 
than a mockery, and the results of this vigorous action were not 
altogether in keeping with the hopes of the foreigners; for, 
frightened by the terrible punishment visited upon them, the 
people of the vicinity boycotted all Europeans living there. Pla- 
cards appeared now in many places, advocating a policy of ab- 
solute non-intercourse with foreigners, forbidding; attendance at 
their chapels, and reading their books, and closing with the 
threat that, " if anyone in his greed for gain permits a foreigner 

» Decree of punishment quoted in United States Foreign Relations, 1892, 
p. 96. 



OUTRAGES ELSEWHERE. 427 

to build other houses, the headman is to inform us ; we will de- 
stroy them and thus prevent future calamities." The murder 
of Rev. J. A. Wylie at Laoyang, near Manchuria, in August, 
1894, by Manchu soldiers quartered in the city, was rather an 
act of lawlessness committed by insubordinate troops during 
the excitement of war than an item in the category of outrages 
upon Europeans domiciled in China. 

What must be considered as the climax of Chinese anti- 
foreign feeling was attained in 1895 during two explosions in 
the widely separated provinces of Sz'chuen and Fuhkien. At 
Chingtu, the capital of the former province, a riot burst out on 
May 28th, the day of the Twan-yang, or Dragon boat festival, 
ending the following day with the complete demolishment of 
every missionary establishment in the city. Here again the 
lives of the foreigners were spared, though some were badly 
maltreated, and several who fled to the magistrates for protec- 
tion were denied admittance, while their prayers for official 
interference were refused point blank. The spirit of persecu- 
tion spread like a prairie-fire through the province, and in the 
course of the following week some fourscore foreigners were 
driven pell-mell from their posts, where they had been earning 
golden reputations among the grateful natives, and forced to 
seek shelter in protected places. In none of the outbursts oc- 
curring within the past twenty years lias there been such clear 
evidence of official connivance in the work of destruction. 1 

Thus far actual murder does not seem to have formed part 
of the programme, but on August 1st of this year the sudden 
descent of an armed party upon some English missionaries in 
a hill village of Fuhkien province, and the massacre of ten of 
their number, marks the most appalling disaster in the history 
of Protestant missions in China. The hamlet of Hwashan is 
located in Kutien (or Kuchang) hien, about a hundred miles 
northwest of Foochow, and has been occupied as a sanitarium 
in times of excessive summer heat by Protestants of various de- 
nominations in that province. As has generally been the case, 

1 History of the SzecMen Biots, by Alfred Cunningham, sub-editor of the 
Mercury, Shanghai, 1895. 



428 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

their personal popularity among the natives of the region seems 
to have been great, and, trusting to this and to their remote- 
ness from the chief centres of anti-foreign sentiment, the occu- 
pants of this retreat— all but two of them women and children 
— were enjoying their well-earned vacation, serenely uncon- 
scious of the hideous plot brewing in a secret place among the 
hills hard by. The blow came from a local chapter of the Tsai 
hwui, or Vegetarian Society, about which much has been heard, 
but little is really known. Through the energy of one Liu Siang- 
sing this society had been established in Kutien and the adjoin- 
ing district in 1892, with the legitimate objects of mutual bene- 
fit, abstinence from opium, tobacco, wine, and flesh, and the 
less wholesome, but inevitable, secret signs, passwords, etc., of 
similar clubs everywhere. The secret propaganda in this par- 
ticular district was successful in calling together the riffraff of 
the population, and when strong in numbers the policy was 
pursued of enforcing the selfish interests of their members by 
proceedings resembling those of the Ku-Klnx in the United 
States, and the Mafia in Sicily — by terrorizing alike the officials 
and people of the region. Difficulties had arisen in the pre- 
vious year between a Christian convert and certain followers of 
this sect, during which the local magistrate showed himself un- 
able to punish a single one of them ; the natural result of this 
was the establishment of the Tsai hwui in a position above 
the law, and the commission of frequent acts of robbery and 
murder. The prefect of the region shut the gates of Kutien 
town, and called for troops from the viceroy. They were not 
sent, owing to the secret influence of the society, and it was 
only after the indignant protests of the foreign consuls at Foo- 
chow that two hundred regulars were despatched to the dis- 
orderly district. The number sent was utterly inadequate to 
overawe a body of men that now counted many thousand ad- 
herents, but their arrival was the immediate cause of the trag- 
edy of August. It was rumored that Mr. Stewart and other 
foreigners had contributed funds to bring the troops up. The 
Vegetarians immediately assembled their forces, organized a 
camp in the neighboring hills, and planned an attack upon Mr. 
Stewart, his family and associates, that should avenge the 



THE MASSACRE AT HWASHAN. 429 

order and wipe out its dishonor in blood. Between two hun- 
dred and three hundred marched out of their fastness by night, 
falling upon the devoted band at dawn, murdering ten foreigners 
and wounding the others, destroying their houses, and disap- 
pearing as swiftly and silently as they had come. 1 

This account of ten years' riots does not even catalogue all 
the most notable disturbances in which foreigners were in- 
volved during this period. The evidence presented is, how- 
ever, ample to justify the inference that there has existed in 
China a widespread feeling of unrest and discontent, which has 
culminated in outbreaks more or less severe at different times 
and places, but which has presented everywhere the common 
symptom of acute Chauvinism, of dislike to the presence and 
predominance of foreigners. It is too early to discuss impar- 
tially the motives of a movement which is not ended, and 
may perhaps have its most terrible manifestation yet in reserve, 
but some consideration must be given to its probable conditions. 
At the bottom of all, and equally effective in every portion of 
the Empire, lies the enmity of the literati, who imagine their 
old preponderance in the nation to be threatened by a new in- 
fluence, the full meaning of which they cannot understand. 
It is not enough to say that this body of men are actuated by 
purely personal motives, fearing the loss of their offices in the 
event of a civil service reform, nor that they resent the attacks 
on Confucianism and the national cult of ancestors. Both of 
these considerations are mightily effective in extending the 
crusade against the "outsider," but neither accounts for its 
sudden recrudescence at irregular intervals during the past gen- 
eration. To satisfactorily explain the explosions of hatred in 
regions where Christianity and foreigners are not only toler- 
ated but welcomed by the masses, their recentness and their 
fitful and transitory nature in most places, some sources of ap- 
prehension or discontent must be sought which have moved 
only one element of Chinese society and developed within this 
element a policy of stubborn resistance to the treaty powers 



1 Chinese Recorder, September, 1895. United States Foreign Relations, 
1895, p. 174 (Commander Newell's Report). 



430 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

daring the present generation. The opposition of the entire 
educated class in China to the coming of Europeans is too 
familiar to need emphasis here. It has been the leading idea 
in all her modern history. Their material strength, however, 
proved irresistible, and, after desperate antagonism, the nation 
has reluctantly yielded to the inevitable, contenting itself with 
the reflection that the Empire was large, and that foreigners 
were confined by their treaty stipulations to residence in a lim- 
ited number of ports. But by a clause surreptitiously inserted 
in the French treaty of 1858, missionaries were admitted to 
travel and reside in the interior, and by the most-favored-na- 
tion clause this right passed to subjects of all the treaty powers. 
Their charitable work, and the fact that their presence did not 
affect the commercial and industrial life of the country, ren- 
dered them unobjectionable to the gentry and people, though 
it cannot be denied that they were looked upon with suspicion 
as unintelligible phenomena in communities where every action 
is supposed to be dictated by motives of self-interest. 

A great light, however, broke upon the minds of thoughtful 
Chinese when, in discussing the revision of the Tientsin treaty 
of 1858, at the end of ten years, the British insisted upon a 
general extension of the right of residence in the country — in- 
volving, of course, the extraterritorial privilege in each case — 
supporting their demand by the argument that such right was 
already conceded to missionaries, and ought logically to be ex- 
tended to merchants. The proposal was vigorously combated 
by Prince Kung and the Tsung-li Yamun, but no European 
knew at the time the consternation with which it was received 
in the country. It meant to the ruling class the invasion of 
their private preserves for squeezing and taxing the people, to 
the merchants the unrestricted competition of foreign rivals, 
to the multitudes of boatmen, carriers, and pedlers the ex- 
tinction of their means of livelihood by the introduction of 
steamers, railroads, and Western inventions. The missionaries 
themselves had been regarded as comparatively harmless, but 
used as an argument for the invasion of China, they became a 
menace to the country. " Precedent, that ultima ratio of 
Chinese controversy, had been found, and was now being 



CAUSES OF THE KIOTS. 431 

pressed into their teeth. Their own guns were being turned 
against themselves. By some means or other they must re- 
take them. What else could they think of ? Ponder a mo- 
ment their dilemma. If they continued to allow one class of 
foreigners to enter, it would seem ' inconsistent and insidious ' 
to deny a modified privilege of the same class to others. Plain- 
ly it had come to this — either all foreigners must be admitted 
freely into the interior, or all must be equally restricted to the 
open ports. The former they had resolved should be strenu- 
ously resisted ; the latter alone remained, and how to accom- 
plish it ' without hazarding the safety of the present situation ' 
or ' giving these parties reason to suspect their plans ' became 
now the absorbing topic of their councils. And now com- 
mence these ' disturbances,' inaugurated [by the Tientsin mas- 
sacre of 1870] for the purpose of making the residence of 
missionaries inland no longer safe, and thus of crowding them 
back to the open ports." x 

Such a conclusion as this is eminently characteristic of the 
Chinese mind, and, when once initiated, a policy of secret re- 
sistance based upon its premises would attract many opposing 
interests. The plan of campaign has been valiantly resisted by 
the more enlightened members of the government, who realize 
perfectly the dangers which beset the Empire and the dynasty 
in embroilments with Europeans. The conservatives or reac- 
tionaries, however, in the Palace and elsewhere, serve their 
private purposes by instigating the provinces to rise against 
the detested barbarians, by emphasizing all causes of ill-feeling, 
and by clandestinely protecting their secret agents whenever 
caught. However earnest its efforts, the Court is powerless to 
deal with this insidious and disloyal element in its bureau- 
cracy ; hence its failure to keep its pledges to foreigners, or 
to prevent the recurrence of outrages, or punish those that 
cause them. The most notable effort on the part of the gov- 
ernment to arrest the movement in the provinces was the pro- 
mulgation of a decree by the Emperor after the Wuhu and 

1 Rev. W. Ashmore's theory elaborated in the Chinese Recorder of July, 
1896, the most satisfactory thus far suggested, and based upon indisputable 
historical evidence. 



432 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Wusueh uprisings. This edict of June 13, 1891, and the me- 
morial of the Tsung-li Yaimui that called it forth have uot 
improperly beeu termed " the two most important state papers 
ever issued in China." In the rescript his Majesty solemnly 
declares that 

The propagation of Christianity by foreigners is provided for by treaty, 
and Imperial decrees have been issued to the provincial authorities to pro- 
tect the missionaries from time to time. . . . The doctrine of Christian- 
ity has for its purpose the teaching of men to be good. Chinese converts are 
subjects of China and are amenable to the local authorities. Peace and quiet 
should reign among the Chinese and missionaries. But there are reckless 
fellows who fabricate stories that have no foundation in fact for the purpose 
of creating trouble. Villains of this class are not few in number and are to 
be found everywhere. . . . The local authorities must protect the lives 
and property of foreign merchants and missionaries and prevent bad char- 
acters from doing them injury. Should it transpire that the measures taken 
to protect them have not been adequate, and trouble in consequence ensues, 
the names of those officers that have been truly negligent are to be reported 
to us for degradation. . . . Let this decree be universally promulgated 
for the information of the people. 

That this decree was honestly intended and faithfully pro- 
claimed by the government is perfectly manifest, whatever 
complaints and assertions have been made to the contrary. It 
was obviously its only safe policy in view of the causes of dis- 
quiet prevailing throughout the Empire. It is also perfectly 
true that it was not made public in many places where infa- 
mous libels upon Christianity were scattered broadcast ; but 
in these instances the imperial authority was impotent against 
the determined and rebellious action of local mandarins sup- 
ported by the gentry. The enmity of these men had only 
to distort some trivial accident or exaggerate an idle rumor to 
transform the imperturbable and good-natured mass of a 
Chinese crowd into a mob of maniacs. In Chinkiang a Sepoy 
policeman slapped an impudent native ; the result was a hur- 
ricane of riot. In 1895 a foreigner accidentally hit a petty 
mandarin with an air-gun at Ichang ; it was enough to pre- 
cipitate without further effort on their part the emeute which 
the literati had been preparing for months. Yet despite this 
persistent instigation a little sternness on the part of a local 
magistrate is always sufficient to quell any disorder that may 



SOURCES OF ANTI-FOREIGN FANATICISM. 433 

arise among the people from sudden fright. They are accus- 
tomed to injustice and immorality; such when exhibited by 
foreigners do not greatly trouble them. But when told that 
the high walls of a Catholic convent protect the secret rites of 
witches within, that the charitable missionary going his rounds 
in town and country is clandestinely scattering fleas infected 
with the plague, that the tender touch of the foreign lady who 
lifts a fallen child in the street "hoodoos" all the brat's 
relations to the fourth degree, that a compound cathartic in- 
fallibly removes the queue of the taker — these are tales that 
sink deep into the superstitious mind already impressed with 
the marvels these foreigners perform, and bestir it to deeds of 
insane fury. 

Nor can it be denied that the indiscreet actions of foreigners 
themselves give rise to great odium. Their proneness to em- 
ploy their political influence to defend converts or proteges from 
just punishment is perhaps natural, but none the less inexcus- 
able. 1 Their occasional pretensions to power, as seen in the 
case of a Roman Catholic bishop who assumed the port and 
trappings of a viceroy, and even issued "proclamations" to his 
diocese, stamped with a seal after the manner of the civil 
magistrate, are as dangerous as they are preposterous. Their 
physique, their dress and bearing, are all more or less disagree- 
able as well as strange to the ignorant people. It is not diffi- 
cult to develop this inchoate unpopularity into active hatred. 

Another factor in the matter is the habit, dear to every 
Chinese, of combination, and the enormous development there- 
by of secret societies. These associations for political purposes 
inevitably increase in strength and numbers in proportion as 
the imperial authority displays weakness. They have been es- 
pecially numerous in China since the Opium War, and are now 
supposed to number as members a majority of all the civil 
servants in the Empire. The action of these secret clubs often 
changes from legitimate to illegitimate, according to the char- 
acter and wishes of its leaders, the Kolao hwui, a Hunan soci- 

1 A recent instance of this is given at length by Dr. W. Ashmore in a series 
of articles on "Outrages on the American Baptist Mission at Kho-khoi," 
in the Chinese Recorder, August, September, October, and November, 1896. 



434 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

ety, 1 having degenerated from a loyal political club founded 
by Tsang Kwo-fan during the Tai-ping rebellion into an organ- 
ization to overthrow the reigning dynasty. It is palpably the 
object of at least some members of this society to create anti- 
foreign riots by stirring up the people, and thus embroil the 
government with the great powers. 

These centres of incipient revolt exist everywhere in China, 
but chiefly in the province of Hunan, which contains the least 
mixed and most conservative descendants of the ancient dom- 
inant race. This province furnishes the army with its bravest 
soldiers, and the administration with some of its most capable 
officers. It has preserved its territory thus far intact from 
the detested foreigner, and has been the source whence all 
the most virulent and injurious lies about him come. The 
strength of bigotry concentrated in this province has been so 
intense as to prevent the government from punishing the no- 
torious Chu Han, the proud author of many infamous publi- 
cations that brought about the riots of 1891,. These riots have 
always been most formidable in the Yangtsz' valley, as much 
because directed from this central province as because fear of 
foreign rivalry in the river trade renders the people living in 
its towns especially sensitive. 

There are plenty of theories ascribing these outbreaks to 
other sources, or emphasizing a subordinate motive as a lead- 
ing cause. With rebellion a chronic malady of the body politic, 
it is not difficult to attribute them all to disaffection. So 
with other factors, as official turpitude and incapacity, the 
superstitions of the people, the indiscretions and narrowness of 
missionaries, etc. Each of these is supremely effective some- 
where, but the phenomenon is too varied and extensive to have 
been directly caused by any but the most deliberate plans em- 
ploying a vast army of willing instruments and ignorant dupes. 2 

1 China Review, Vol. XV., p. 129; J. D. Ball, Tilings Chinese, second edi- 
tion, New York, 1893, p. 430. 

2 The literature on the anti-foreign riots is already considerable and prom- 
ises to become voluminous. The best authorities on the events themselves 
are the United Slates Foreign Relations series from 1887 to 1896, two or three 
Parliamentary BlueBo.'ks devoted to the riots (1891, 1892, etc.), and files of 



PRINCIPLE IN SEPARATION. 435 

Whatever the causes of these risings, it was manifestly the 
policy of the foreign representatives at Peking to act together 
in demanding reparation from the Foreign Office and to base 
their demands upon the rights enjoyed by the injured, not as 
missionaries but as foreign subjects, to protection under the 
treaties. Doubtless if more firmness had been shown after the 
first great riot at Tientsin in 1870, the imperial government 
might have made a more desperate effort to suppress these dis- 
orders, though it is improbable that it could have altogether 
prevented them. 1 The acceptance of a money compensation 
for such acts of violence became a matter of course, and the 
Chinese not unnaturally began to suppose that Europeans 
thought only of pecuniary indemnity as expiation for each 
horrible attack. If more were necessary it was always easy to 
produce victims for the headsman as a sop to very conscientious 
foreigners. When, however, they began to insist upon the 
presence of their representatives at the trials, and demanded 
the public punishment of guilty officials as an indispensable 

the Shanghai and Tientsin papers. From the Shanghai press a volume entitled 
The Anti-Foreign Riots in China in 1891, was compiled in 1892. The Chinese 
Recorder, though curiously lax and irregular in printing reliable accounts of 
the riots which chiefly concerned the body it represents in China, has a few 
valuable articles (1891, 1892, 1895, etc.) by men of experience and ability 
like Rev. J. Ross, Dr. W. Ashmore, and others. Discussion of the problem 
in its various phases forms the subject of two notable pamphlets entitled Mis- 
sionaries in China, and China and Christianity, by Alexander Michie, Tien- 
tsin, 1892-93 (republished in London) ; Sources of the Anti-Foreign Dis- 
turbances in China, by Rev. Gilbert Reid. Shanghai, 1893 ; also in " Corre- 
spondance sur lesemutesde Ou-hou, etc., Toung P<w, Vol. II., January, 1892, 
pp. 447-558 ; " The Riots in China," Blackwood's Magazine, November and 
December, 1891; Cundry's China, Present and Past, 1895 ; Curzon's Prob- 
lems of the Far East, 1894 ; Dr. W. A. P. Martin's Cycle of Cathay, 1890 ; 
H. Norman's Peoples and Politics, 1895 (which states the extreme anti-mission- 
ary argument); J. D. Ball's Things Chinese, 1893, pp. 389, 419, etc. 

1 A former missionary, Dr. W. A. P. Martin, declares that " if, in 1870, the 
French charge, declining the offer of money and heads, had waited until he 
could have a fleet of gun-boats in the Peiho, if then the whole suburb where 
the riot occurred had been laid in ashes, and the ground confiscated for a 
French concession, the government would have taken care that there should 
not be a second riot. Being let off cheap, the anti-foreign mandarins felt that 
they could afford to continue the process of fanning the flame of patriotism." 
— A Cycle of Cathay, p. 445. 



436 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

condition, the indifference of the government disappeared. A 
great change in spirit was brought about in 1895 by the deter- 
mined effort of the American Minister to send a commission to 
Sz'chuen and determine, if possible, the guilt of the ex- Vice- 
roy, Liu Ping-cliang. " China fought this commission for some 
days," writes Colonel Den by, " but was finally forced to con- 
sent to its going overland to Chengtu. China also fought with 
unparalleled obstinacy the proposition- to punish the Viceroy 
Liu, partly on account of his influence with the Dowager Em- 
press, and partly because there was no precedent for this action. 
The entering wedge in overcoming this obstinacy was the action 
of the [United States State] Department in ordering the going 
of an American commission. After China had accepted this 
proposition as inevitable the British Minister stepped in with 
an ultimatum that the officials should be punished. A fleet 
was ordered to these waters as a menace. The Minister of 
France then intervened to explain to China that to avoid trou- 
ble she must punish the officials." * The Viceroy was degraded 
from office, " never to be employed again, as a warning to 
others," and the taotais, prefects, and other officers concerned, 

1 United States Foreign Relations, 1895, Vol. I. , p. 150. In a letter to the de- 
partment, dated March 22, 1895, Colonel Denby declares his views of mission- 
ary work in China in a document which has already become famous in the East 
as one of the ablest defences of foreign missions from the secular side ever 
formulated. In it he touches upon the patent fact that natives of all classes 
are benefited by the labors of missionaries in hospitals, schools, translations, 
charitable relief, and sanitary reforms. "As far as my knowledge extends." 
he continues, " I can and do say that the missionaries in China are self-sacri- 
ficing ; that their lives are pure ; that they are devoted to their work ; that 
their influence is beneficial to the natives : that the arts and sciences and 
civilization are greatly spread by their efforts ; and that many useful Western 
books are translated by them into Chinese ; that they are the leaders in all 
charitable work, giving largely themselves, and personally disbursing the 
funds with which they are entrusted ; that they do make converts, and such 
converts are mentally benefited by conversion. In answer to these state- 
ments, which are usually acknowledged to be true, it does not do to say, as 
if the answer were conclusive, that the literati and gentry are usually op- 
posed to missionaries. This antagonism was to have been expected. . . 
In the interests, therefore, of civilization, missionaries ought not only to be tol- 
erated, but ought to receive protection, to which they are entitled from offi- 
cials, and encouragement from other classes of people." 



CHINA, JAPAN, AND KOREA. 437 

punished in various ways. This act of justice is not improperly 
said to constitute an era in the treatment of foreigners in China. 

The revival of anti-foreign fanaticism in China during: 1894 
and 1895 was more particularly due to the invasion of her 
territory by Japan, the third and most important event re- 
maining to be chronicled in this chapter. It was not a sense 
of defeat — the majority of the lower classes in China being 
probably to this day unaware of the disasters to their arms — 
out of indignation at the reported intrusion of another for- 
eign race upon their soil which helped to stir up the old fury 
once more and proved the direct cause (as in the murder of Mr. 
Wylie) of several recent riots. 

The contention of China and Japan over Korea may be con- 
sidered as having originated in the sixteenth century, when 
Hideyoshi's formidable invasion (1592-98) established Japan's 
shadowy pretensions to suzerainty in the peninsula. China 
being appealed to at that time, succeeded in expelling the in- 
vaders, though the Korean King was compelled to send tribute 
to both Shogun and Grand Khan until the year 1832, when, 
becoming tired of the expense involved in entertaining the 
embassy, the Court of Yedo ordered its discontinuance. This 
was, perhaps, a mistake from the stand-point of Asiatic diplo- 
macy, as was Japan's action when she refused a renewal of 
the old connection with her quandam vassal upon a threatened 
invasion by France in 1866. Both of these errors she had 
later occasion to regret ; nor is she less likely in future to re- 
gret the legacy of hatred toward her which exists wherever 
the Korean people remember the period of their oppression 
during the invasion. 

China's intermixture in the affairs of the peninsula repre- 
sents a more natural affiliation than that of her rival as regards 
civilization, letters, and territorial connection. Tribute embas- 
sies were sent to Peking as well as to Japan, but with greater 
regularity and continuity, and with a far deeper sense of obli- 
gation ; for, though the tribute itself was nominal, the Korean 
monarch received his reign-name from the Chinese Emperor, 
accepted the calendar — a mark of vassalage — from his hands, 
and had to personally welcome the Chinese ambassador at a 



438 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

spot outside of his capital, Seoul. Such formalities imply 
much in oriental relations. Some aspects of China's suprem- 
acy in Continental Asia have already been considered in the 
case of Annam. It is difficult to reconcile the docility of such 
imperial fiefs as Annam, Burma, Korea, and even Tibet, with 
the contumacy of her rebellious subjects in Central Asia and 
elsewhere. " The real reason," explains a profound student 
of her history, "is that Chinese nominal over-lordship leaves 
to the vassal populations the maximum of liberty with the 
minimum of injury to the pocket. China has always been 
willing to grant the kernel of home-rule, including taxation, if 
only her imperial pride were fully gratified with the gilded 
shell of tribute and nominal subordination. . . . Another 
reason why China — at a distance— is held in profound respect 
by her vassal nations is because her splendid literature, equally 
readable in Korean, Annamese, Japanese, or Lewchewan, ap- 
peals to the ' barbarian' mind in the same way that degenerate 
Rome still exercises a semi-religious fascination over the l bar- 
barians ' of Europe. . . . In a word, China, like Rome, is 
morally indestructible." 1 

There was no question, then, as to the reality of the depend- 
ence of the lesser upon the greater state. China, however, 
like Japan, vitiated the logic of her position by discreditable 
diplomatic oscillations when, upon the demand of France for 
reparation after the murder of some missionaries in Korea in 
1866, she weakly denied responsibility for acts committed by 
subjects of an avowedly vassal state. Again, in 1871, when 
the United States presented a similar claim after the murder 
of a whaling crew on the Korean coast, the Americans were 
requested to chastise the Koreans and force a treaty upon them 
if they could. They both could and did. 2 Lastly, in 1876. 
the Japanese were given the same answer under like circum- 

J E. H. Parker in the Astatic Quarterly Review for October, 1896, p. 291. 

3 United States Diplomatic Correspondence, 1867, Vol. I. , pp. 420-428, etc. 
Foreign Relations, 1871, pp. 73, 115-149, etc. Shanghai Budget, March, June, 
and July, 1871. W. E. Griffis, Coi'ea, the Hermit Nation, 1882. A treaty 
negotiated by Japan, February 26, 1876, first " opened" Korea ; foreign trade 
was allowed at Gensan, Fusan, and Chemulpo. 



CHINESE OVER-LORDSHIP. 439 

stances, and China carelessly threw away the winning cards in 
her hand. Realizing her mistake as soon as the foreigners 
began to make their treaties, she afterward tried to recoup by 
compelling the King to accompany each compact with an in- 
congruous confession of fealty to China. But if he was a vas- 
sal he had no business to be negotiating treaties and sending 
representatives abroad ; and this, of course, the nations recog- 
nized when, ignoring the paradox altogether, they treated 
Korea as an autonomous state. 

Despite a curious inability to pursue a consistent policy, 
China managed, nevertheless, to retain all the practical advan- 
tages of lordship over the administration in Korea, where until 
July, 1894, her minister resident was the real power behind 
the throne. The immediate causes of the conflict that was the 
culmination of her rivalry with Japan may be traced directly 
to the rebellions which had become a chronic malady of Korea, 
and to the quarrels of two Court factions which involved mur- 
derous attacks upon the Japanese embassy at Seoul and the as- 
sassination of a liberal leader friendly to Japan. The dreadful 
misgovernment of the country long ago brought its miserable 
peasantry to regard any change as likely to be for their better- 
ment. One manifestation of their desperate condition was the 
organization, about 1859, of a sect upholding certain doctrines 
of the three religions of China with a few Christian ideas 
added. Any connection with the despised and persecuted fol- 
lowers of the Jesuits was, however, disavowed by calling this 
sect the Tong Hak, or " Eastern Doctrine," to distinguish it 
from the " Western," or Roman Catholic, doctrine. The asso- 
ciation presently became more political than religious in its 
purposes, and after subverting government authority in the 
southern provinces, marched in 1893 upon the Palace at Seoul 
to demand redress for grievances. The petitioners were sent 
away with promises, but these being stultified the following 
spring, they reassembled in such force as to threaten the very 
existence of the Throne. When in May the government troops 
sent against them were overwhelmingly defeated, the Court 
turned in alarm to its ancient protector and asked aid from 
China to put down the rebels. 



440 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

If misery pushed to the extreme of insurrection indicates 
anything, the state of Korea at this time would seem of itself 
adequate cause for the cataclysm of 1894. Added to this, 
however, was the plotting of rival factions at the capital and 
the jealous interference of both China and Japan in the ad- 
ministration of a helpless and degraded country which both 
alike claimed to protect. The two Court parties were the Mins, 
mostly members of the clan to which the Queen belonged, and 
the anti-Mins, headed by the King's father, the Tai Wen 
Kun, or regent, who had practically usurped the sovereignty 
during his son's minority, ruling with great severity and a 
marked anti-foreign bias. It was this particular prejudice that 
had brought him to intrigue with the Min clique in 1882, and 
excite a mob which murdered several Japanese and drove their 
entire legation out of the country. The idle plot cost both 
him and his country dear. The government was made not 
only to pay and apologize for the outrage, but to admit 
Japanese and Chinese troops in Seoul, while to simplify the 
complexity of palace politics the Tai Wen Kun, the arch- 
plotter, was kidnapped by Chinese officers and made to spend 
two years of ignominious captivity in China. Another emeute, 
two years later, involving the assassination of the conservative 
Min leaders and the formation of a government under one 
Kim Ok-kiun, a liberal with Japanese proclivities, was more 
serious. It was followed by the return to power of the Mins, 
who with the aid of Chinese troops ousted their opponents and 
once more burned the Japanese legation, driving its members 
and body-guard to the coast. The part played in this political 
revolution by Chinese soldiers was fatuous in the extreme. It 
gave abundant cause for a declaration of war, which Japan had 
all but made, when the Viceroy Li promptly and sensibly 
averted a crisis, and Korea had once again to pay for her folly. 
In consequence of this grave peril, and to establish a more satis- 
factory entente respecting this bone of contention, a covenant 
between Count Ito and Li Hung-chang was concluded at 

CD C7 

Tientsin in April, 1885, in which Japan and China agreed to 
withdraw all their troops from Korea, to advise the King to 
engage officers from some third power to drill and equip his 



POLITICS IN KOREA. 441 

army, and, thirdly, to inform the other country whenever 
either party should find it necessary, to send an armed force to 
Korea. 

Kim Ok-kiun had escaped from Seoul and spent the ten fol- 
lowing years in Europe and Japan. Early in 1894 he was in- 
veigled by a compatriot to leave the latter country and visit 
Shanghai. There he was assassinated by his treacherous friend, 
undoubtedly at the instigation of the reactionary party in 
Seoul. Though the crime was committed in the foreign con- 
cession, the consular body rather weakly turned the murderer 
and the corpse of his victim over to the Chinese authorities, 
who promptly forwarded them both to Korea. The former was 
lauded and rewarded as the first patriot in his country ; the 
body was quartered and exposed during several weeks in sightly 
places about the capital. It would be unjust to complain of 
Korean politics as lacking in excitement or picturesqueness of 
a certain sort. 

This tragedy occurring at the moment when the Tong Haks 
were threatening Seoul, brought matters to extremities. Japan 
being herself aflame with the social and political renascence at 
home, had posed successfully as the friend of progress and re- 
form in the little kingdom, while one motive of her policy 
there was palpably that of thwarting China. That Empire, on 
the other hand, won from Europeans a great deal of gratuitous 
odium by seeming to discourage these reform schemes. She 
did so because under the existing conditions of a grossly cor- 
rupt official class, and an ignorant and apathetic populace, 
these plans were simply chimerical. The Japanese Court may, 
moreover, have been influenced by the Jingo party at home, 
who rendered the conduct of parliamentary government ex- 
tremely difficult for the ministry unless it played a little now 
and then to the gallery by a brave show of bullying Korea and 
insulting China. Japan had, it must be remembered, an army 
and fleet of which she was pardonably proud, and she was too 
near a neighbor of China not to perceive, what Europeans only 
dimly understood, that an almost unconquerable aversion to the 
profession of arms on the part of her governing class had ren- 
dered all Chinese attempts at military rehabilitation practically 



442 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

valueless. Japan was ready, her old rival was not ; she knew 
also that a place among nations would not be allowed her until 
she had conquered an enemy in a fight. The Korean imbroglio 
was but the pretext for consummating a carefully matured 
project. 

Upon the appeal of Korea for help against the Tong Haks, 
already alluded to, China forwarded a small body of troops to 
the disturbed region, duly informing her rival according to 
agreement. Japan, alleging — not without excuse — that her 
subjects were insecure in that country, landed in the month of 
June seven or eight thousand soldiers, securing and occupying 
the approaches to Seoul with military precision. It was, as the 
terrified Koreans began to realize, an invasion. Then began a 
diplomatic campaign, short and sharp. The Japanese Minister, 
Otori, demanded from the King a clear definition of his rela- 
tionship to China, advised him of the impossibility of shielding 
in future the abuses of his administration behind the segis of 
Chinese suzerainty, and proposed a sweeping scheme of reform, 
including the laws, educational system, army, finances, all to 
be intrusted to Japanese hands. The poor monarch had to 
submit to the humiliation of being made the shuttlecock be- 
tween his more powerful neighbors ; his compliance, which in- 
volved the ejection of the conservatives and establishment of a 
ministry that formally requested Japan to take care of them, 
was utterly insincere, but his attempts at obstruction were fu- 
tile. From this moment, while China and Japan delayed yet a 
little to collect their forces for a direct blow, the ruler of the 
miserable country over which they were fighting sinks back 
into pathetic obscurity. 

China, indeed, conscious of her unpreparedness, tried hard 
to avoid hostilities, and even asked Russia, the arch-terror of 
the Far East, to interfere. She continued to despatch rein- 
forcements to her troops in Korea, but as this was within her 
technical, not to say traditional, rights, she still hoped for some 
amicable settlement when there occurred a tragedy which ren- 
dered all thought of compromise impossible. On July 23d, the 
political farce having been played out at Seoul, three fast cruis- 
ers were sent from Japan to intercept any additional Chinese 



COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 443 

troops on their way to Korea. Two days later they encountered 
opposite Asan two small Chinese men-of-war, the Kwang yi 
and Tsi yue?i, which, instead of saluting, cleared for action. 
The action that followed was brief, and speaks better for the 
pluck than the intelligence of the Chinese in attacking three 
vessels, any one of which was a match for them both. Within 
an hour the Kwang yi was disabled and beached, the other 
running for Wei hai wei riddled with shot. The transport 
which these two vessels had come out to convoy, a British 
steamer, the Kowshing, was met by the victorious Japanese 
while chasing the Tsi yuen an hour later. An officer of the 
Kaniwa upon boarding her found that she was carrying 1,200 
troops and a few foreign officers under the British flag. He 
bade the steamer follow him, but when the Europeans signalled 
back that the Chinese would not let them go, preferring to 
sink the ship rather than be taken prisoners, the answer 
came back, " quit the ship at once." Therewith the Nanitca, 
placing herself at a convenient distance, fired a broadside and 
launched a torpedo at the defenceless steamer, which sank im- 
mediately with most of those on board. 

The act was a critical one, for war had not been declared, 
and the British flag in Asiatic waters enjoys a quite fearful 
prestige. But at a moment when both sides were pouring all 
the soldiers they could mobilize into the disputed territory, 
and on the very morning when the Japanese had fought two 
Chinese vessels, it was natural that they should consider hos- 
tilities actually begun. The technical correctness of their de- 
cision was afterward sustained by two English authorities in 
international law ; * but the annihilation of more than a thou, 
sand ignorant and defenceless men cooped up in an unarmed 
steamer cannot be reconciled with the usage of civilized na- 
tions. 

This incident led to declarations of war by both parties. 
The two documents are characteristic ; the Japanese, calm and 
firm in tone, protesting a desire for peace, and rehearsing — 



1 Professors J. Westlake and T. E. Holland in the London Times of August 
3 and 7, 1894. 



444 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

not always with irrefutable accuracy — their statement of the 
case ; the Chinese, true to the tradition of centuries, reassert- 
ing sovereignty over Korea, and exhorting their officers " to 
root the Wojin out of their lairs," and " to refrain from the 
least laxity in obeying our commands." 1 The contrast is sug- 
gestive. 

Though superior in numbers the situation of the Japanese in 
Korea was still precarious, so long as the capital was threatened 
on the south by the Chinese force at Asan, and upon the other 
side by an army rapidly hurrying to Ping yang, or Phyong 
yang, on the Tai tong River, one hundred and thirty miles, or 
thereabouts, north of Seoul. After a little sharp fighting at 
the hamlet of Song hwan, near Asan, where the enemy were 
entrenched, they drove them from their position (July 28th), 
thus removing the first danger. Some fifteen hundred of this 
garrison, under General Yen, made their way to Ping yang, a 
performance sufficiently suggestive of the sympathies of the 
peasantry, for such a force, without provisions or knowledge 
of the country, would have perished in a hostile community. 
The Japanese pressed after them, but not hurriedly, for they 
had to await reinforcements. With admirable discretion Mar- 
shal Yamagata moved his forces in four detachments, two un- 
der Generals Oshima and Nodzu by the highway from Seoul, 
another under General Tadzumi, by a detour to the right 
through the towns of Sak riong and Sin ge ; the fourth, assem- 
bling at the port of Gensan on the northeast coast, under 
Colonel Sato, and advancing across the mountains upon the 
flank of the Chinese position. Meantime a Chinese army had 
been pouring from Manchuria across the Amnok, or Yalu, River, 
and concentrating at Ping yang, the key of Northern Korea ; 
their total is estimated at four armies, comprising about 13,- 
000 men, occupying twenty-seven forts, a very strong position. 
The Japanese numbered altogether some 14,000 effective 

1 Both documents are given in full in Appendix D of "Vladimir's " China- 
Japan War, London, 1896. The text of the Chinese declaration in the 
Translation of the Peking Gazette, 1894, has "attack the enemy" instead of 
"root the Wojin out." Wojin is the common but contemptuous Chinese 
term for Japanese. 



THE BATTLE OF PING YANG. 445 

troops. Quite six weeks had elapsed before, on Septem- 
ber 15th, the first great blow of the war was struck. The 
joint attack was then delivered with precision and effect. 
While the right wing of Oshima's detachment, the so called 
Mixed Brigade, threatened the forts defending a bridge of 
boats leading to the citv across the Tai tong, its left wing at- 
tended to those commanding the Chung hwa road south of the 
city, and the main body under Nodzu, having crossed the 
stream the day previous, opened upon the southwestern angle 
of the town. The Sak riong detachment, at the same time, 
faced the four forts north of the Chinese, while the Gensan 
troops controlled their northwestern defences on the Wijn 
road, cutting off the main avenue of retreat. The engagement 
was not without some severe fighting, but the Chinese were 
surprised and disheartened at the unexpected appearance of the 
enemy on all sides at once; they had no courage left for a 
hopeless defence. Only one of their generals, Tso Pao-kwei, 
si lowed a proper spirit, and he alone prevented an evacuation 
of all the works on the night of the 14th. His death in the 
midst of the carnage was the end of all real resistance ; there 
was no thought in the garrison except of flight, and all through 
the night after the battle the Chinese fled along the Wiju road, 
suffering fearfully at the hands of the Japanese of the Main 
and Gensan detachments, but preferring, as usual, risk of 
death to capture. By morning not a Chinese soldier was to be 
found in Ping yang. The Japanese loss may be reckoned at 
about 350 officers and men, including (as it is safe to do) all 
the missing among the slain ; the Chinese are supposed to have 
had 2,000 killed, 1,500 of these in the fatal flight by night. 
About 600 were taken alive. 1 

The Japanese victory at Ping yang was the China-Japan war 
in epitome. The contest was, in fact, despite some instances 
of individual bravery, one between children and men ; an ar- 
ray of undisciplined and listless " braves " under hopelessly 

1 These figures are interesting when compared with the accounts tele- 
graphed to Europe after the hattle, which placed the Chinese losses at 4.000 
killed and 16,000 taken prisoners. The story about the Chinese fighting 
under oiled-paper umbrellas at Ping yang is a fable. 



446 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

benighted officers against troops trained and eager .'or the en- 
counter under capable leaders. Beyond seizing upon a strong 
defensive position the Chinese showed no conception whatever 
of strategy. In a country where every inhabitant was willing 
to give them information of the enemy's movements they re- 
mained cooped up in a fortress, quite unmindful of his ap- 
proach on three sides and of his menace to their base line. 
The utter inefficiency of the Chinese generalship must not 
be forgotten as affording favorable conditions that furnish no 
real test of the Japauese evolutions. Perhaps the lesson of 
chief interest to be derived from this campaign was its con- 
clusive demonstration of the theory of sea-power recently 
formulated by Captain Mahan, United States Ravy. Japan's 
correct use of her fleet and transports in conveying troops 
simultaneously to Chemulpo and Gensan, and detaching a few 
vessels and torpedo-boats to secure the Tai tong estuary against 
surprise, both insured the success of her army in Korea and 
determined at the first blow the issue of the military campaign 
there. 

Immediately after the battle the Japanese pushed a strong 
column along the route leading to the Amnok gang, or Yaln, 
River and Manchuria, less than one hundred and fifty miles 
by road from Ping yang. Here at Wiju, on the southern 
bank, the whole of the First Army had assembled by October 
20th, having encountered on the march only such difficulties as 
the physical character of the country presented. The Chinese, 
demoralized by their reverses, had not tried to make a stand 
until safely across the river, where they were now re-enforced 
by troops sent to this point both by iand and sea. As for 
Korea, the ground was swept clear of Chinese; not a single 
"brave" lingered anywhere in the peninsula except in hiding. 
The completeness of this result was due, however, not alone to 
the victory of Ping yang, but to the naval battle fought one 
day later in the Bay of Korea. 

A policy of masterly inactivity had been maintained by the 
Chinese fleet after the brush with the Japanese cruisers off 
Asan. It is difficult to account for this except upon the gen- 
eral ground of Chinese ignorance and ineptness in the art of 



THE FLEETS IN THE BAY OF KOREA. 447 

war. During the month of August there occurred a series of 
palace upheavals, about which little is known, but the secret 
influences of which told lamentably upon the conduct of the 
war. JSTow the war party, and again the peace-at-any-price 
party, would secure the Emperor's ear, and with each obscure 
success the policy of the nation and the generals at the front 
must be changed. Habit and custom also inclined the Court to 
land rather than sea campaigns, and it is probable that they 
trusted to saving Korea by the historic route through Man- 
churia, preferring to retain the fleet as a secondary defence 
against the contingency of a direct invasion of China by Japan. 
This policy, whatever its motive, was altered when they ob- 
served that Japan was pouring troops into Korea faster than 
China, and that they already outnumbered them in the Tai 
tong valley. This induced them early in September to de- 
spatch transports from Talien Bay, on Regent's Sword, to the 
Yalu, under convoy of Admiral Ting's squadron. The trip was 
made and the troops landed with success. As the ships were 
returning they met, on the morning of September 17th, the 
Japanese fleet under Admiral Ito, which, having been employed 
on the same business at Chemulpo, was reconnoitring the coast 
in search of the enemy. The two fleets were nearly equal in 
effective strength, with twelve vessels on either side ; the ad- 
vantage of tonnage (about 38,400 to 33,300) and quick-firing 
guns was with the Japanese, and that of protective armor and 
heavy guns with the "Chinese, conditions which might have 
rendered the contest pretty equal, except that skill, mutual 
support, and efficiency were almost wholly on the Japanese 
side. It should be added, however, that the latter was seri- 
ously hampered in its evolutions by the presence of an armed 
transport and a gun-boat which ought not to have been allowed 
to remain after the enemy was sighted. The Chinese strength 
was not materially increased by the arrival of two gun-boats and 
six torpedo-boats during the action, though it is supposed that 
the presence of the latter * influenced the Japanese admiral in 



1 Only two of these, according to Captain McGiffin, went into the action at 
all.— The Century, August, 1895. 



448 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

withdrawing his ships before dark, thus allowing the escape of 
Ting to Port Arthur. 

This most important sea-fight since the engagement of the 
Monitor and Merrimac lasted about five hours. Coming upon 
the enemy near the island of Hai yang (Hai yun tau), about 
half-way between Port Arthur and Ta tnng kan, on the Yaln, 
the Japanese were able by their superior speed to circle around 
their adversary, keeping at safe distance from the two armored 
battle-ships and concentrating their fire with deadly effect upon 
the weaker vessels of his squadron. The Chinese formed in a 
line with the iron-clads Chen yuen and Ting yuen in the centre ; 
they were met by the Japanese advancing in column at an acute 
angle across the front of this line, but in two divisions, one 
made up of their four fastest vessels, the other of the slower 
craft. Admiral Ito probably had some motive in executing 
this manoeuvre, which does not transpire; it was only possible 
to avoid the risk of ramming thus incurred by crossing the 
enemy's bows at double his speed and at a distance that dimin- 
ished the efficacy of his own fire. One vessel, the Iliyei, in- 
deed, failing to get across, turned and passed between the two 
Chinese iron-clads, preferring punishment from them to the risk 
of annihilation from the concentrated fire of their entire line. 
After this first movement the order of the Chinese was soon 
broken, and four of their ships were in turn singled out and de- 
stroyed by the quicker moving Japanese. 1 The Front, or Flying, 
Squadron of the latter was deflected for a short time from its 
intention of wheeling round the Chinese by the appearance of 
the Kwang ping and the Ping yuen with the torpedo-boats 
from the Yaln estuary. These being chased away, they re- 
turned to protect the Alcagi and SaiJco Ifaru, and the now shat_ 
tered Iliyei, their three weak vessels, which were thus able to 
effect their escape from the battle. The fiercest fighting of the 
day now occurred between the Main Japanese squadron of five 
and the Chinese centre of two armored vessels, the two flag- 
ships Matsushima and Ting yuen being closely engaged. The 

1 A fifth ran aground while retreating near Talien Bay, and was blown up to 
prevent her capture by the Japanese. 



THE NAVAL BATTLE OF HAI YANG. 449 

Chinese ship was once in flames, that might have got heyond 
control had not her sister ship, the Chen yuen, come to her aid. 
To the successful resistance of these two armored vessels against 
the whole fighting strength of the Japanese is due the rescue of 
the Chinese fleet from extermination. The iron-clads were less 
effective than might have been the case had they been ade- 
quately supplied with shells ; having for the most part to use 
solid shot in their great guns, they were able only to injure 
where they might have destroyed. A single 30.5-centimetre 
shell from the Chen yuen bursting on the Matsushima killed 
or wounded eighty of her crew, disabled her 13-inch Canet 
gun, and set her on fire. With a larger stock of such am- 
munition these two iron-clads might have withstood for an 
indefinite time any force the Japanese could bring within 
range. Their weakness in this respect, and the demoralization 
of the rest of the fleet, however, made them anxious to re- 
tire, and at 5.30 p.m., with their last shot in their cannon, they 
thankfully observed their enemy turn from the pursuit, and 
with their shattered fleet crept back to Port Arthur. 

The naval power of China, so far as it affected this campaign, 
had been destroyed at a blow ; her best ships were greatly 
damaged, her prestige gone. While her actual losses in men 
and material were not irreparable, 1 this defeat opened the sea 
to the enemy as effectually as Pingyang had left him full con- 
trol of Korea. She had been dazed by the suddenness of the 
first disaster, she was paralyzed by this. Her collapse was so 

2 They are estimated at about 700 killed — 600 of these in the sinking of 
three vessels — and 200 or 300 wounded. The Japanese loss was only 115 
killed and 103 wounded. The literature on this engagement, which is com- 
monly, though erroneously, known in English as the Yalu battle, is already 
copious, but in few instances authoritative or instructive. Besides technical 
treatises in the military and naval journals of various nations may be men- 
tioned Lieutenant von Mfiller, Iter Krieg zwischen China und Japan, Part I., 
Berlin, 1895 ; P. N. McGiffin, The Battle of the Yalu ; personal recollections 
by the Commander of the " Chen yuen" The Century, August, 1895, and 
Captain Mahan's instructive comments on the article in the same magazine ; 
W. L. Clowes. The Naval War in the East, Blackwood's Magazine, February, 
1895 ; S. M. Eardley-Wilnmt. The Collapse of China at Sea. Fortnightly Re- 
view, January, 1895 ; and H. A. Herbert, The Fight off the Yalu River, North 
American Review, November, 1894. 



450 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

complete, and the exhibition of Japan's superiority so over- 
whelming, as to benumb the senses of her few capable military 
leaders and statesmen during the remainder of the war. With- 
out attempting here to discuss the military and tactical features 
of this great battle, which is likely to occupy the attention of 
experts for some time to come, it would be difficult to exagger- 
ate its transcendent importance in deciding the issue of this 
conflict. It not only dispirited the Chinese liberal and 
progressive leaders, but gave the anti-war cabal in the Palace 
renewed vigor in their opposition to the conduct of an ener- 
getic campaign and the employment of costly modern arma- 
ments. The reactionary policy was strong enough to forbid 
the purchase of new war material and to insist upon forward- 
ing to the frontier recruits from the interior armed for the 
most part with matchlocks and bows. It was with such futile 
measures that un regenerate China a generation after Yuen 
ming yuen sought to oppose one of the best equipped and 
most skilfully conducted military invasions of modern times. 

Having command of the sea, the first objective point of the 
Japanese was one of the two fortresses which had been built 
within recent years upon the promontories forming the en- 
trance to the Gulf of Pechele. The point selected was Lii 
shun kau, called by Europeans Port Arthur, on the southeast- 
ern point of the Regent's Sword, or Liau tung Promontory, a 
harbor and arsenal that had been rendered practically impreg- 
nable at enormous cost under the superintendence of German 
and French engineers. With this stronghold and the sister 
fortress of Wei hai wei on the opposite promontory of Shan- 
tung untaken, the Japanese could not safely venture against 
Taku, however complete their mastery of the coasts and 
waters of the Yellow Sea. Their determination to reduce 
each of these places in turn while their army was working its 
way across Shingking shows at once their mastery of the mili- 
tary problem confronting them and their sense of the necessity 
of striking at the capital rather than at any of the great trad- 
ing centres of China in order to secure permanent results from 
their victories. A second army was organized for this impor- 
tant work and placed under command of Marshal Oyama, Min- 



THE ATTACK ON PORT ARTHUR 451 

ister of war. Owing to the shoal water a landing-place was 
only found at the mouth of a little stream, the Hwa yuan, a 
hundred miles distant from Port Arthur. On October 24th 
the army disembarked from their transports without interfer- 
ence from a single Chinese ship, though several, if not all, of 
the Pei yang squadron must by this time have been in condi- 
tion to considerably annoy the enemy in the dangerous opera- 
tion of landing his troops, artillery, and stores. It was a costly 
mistake on the part of the Chinese. Like the Russians in the 
Crimea in 1854, their doom was sealed when, the invader once 
ashore, they had no better use for their ships than to sequester 
them uselessly under fortresses and behind a barrier of sunken 
torpedoes. The Japanese, sure of the water behind them, 
could ignore the sea approach to Port Arthur, and by occupy- 
ing the neck of the peninsula could then cut off the hope of 
succor and reduce the forts at leisure. Their progress was 
rapid. Chin chow (or Kin chau) and the Talien Bay forts pro- 
tecting this narrow isthmus fell on November 5th and 6th, 
after almost no fighting, and the Japanese held not only the 
formidable land defences of Port Arthur but a convenient 
landing-place for their siege-train and heavy artillery. 

There remained only the march upon the Port with its for- 
midable array of twenty-two supporting forts. With their 
customary precautions the invaders marched down the con- 
verging roads of the peninsula in two divisions, expecting op- 
position but meeting none, until, on November 20th, the Right 
Division after a slight skirmish drove the garrison out of the 
first fort reached. It was the same story with each in succes- 
sion ; by noon of the 21st the whole land defences had suc- 
cumbed, and in the evening of that day the Japanese, at the 
absurdly small cost of eighteen men actually killed in battle, 1 
were possessors of one of the strongest places and best 

1 About two hundred and seventy were wounded, of whom a number died 
subsequently. The Chinese casualties can only be roughly estimated at about 
a thousand, not including the villagers subsequently massacred. Besides the 
cannon and small arms an immense amount of stores, ammunition, and war 
material fell into the hands of the visitors. The docks, machinery, and 
buildings at Port Arthur are supposed to have cost China over $30,000,000. 



452 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

equipped dock-yards in Eastern Asia. " A first-class fortress," 
observes an English writer in China, " splendidly armed and 
garrisoned by 20,000 troops, is stormed and taken in a few 
hours by an inferior force. It is a pitiable spectacle. In 1860 
one of the Taku forts was cannonaded by a park of 11 
siege guns, 36 field cannon, and a battery of rockets, which 
succeeded in blowing up the principal magazine, an incident 
calculated to demoralize the stoutest troops. When assaulted, 
and finally captured by nearly 3,000 French and English, the 
garrison were found to number but 500, of whom but 100 es- 
caped alive, while the attacking party had 22 killed and 179 
wounded. That was a sample of the kind of defence the 
Chinese could make a generation ago against the best troops 
in the world. Every one of the Port Arthur forts might have 
done as well. They were proportionally better armed, better 
disposed for defence, better fortified, more numerously garri- 
soned. Yet the total loss inflicted by them upon their assail- 
ants did not greatly exceed the loss suffered by the allies in 
capturing a single fort guarded by five hundred Chinamen. 
How such an extraordinary discrepancy of results is to be ex- 
plained it is impossible to say. The Chinese appear to have 
been totally demoralized. The cruel lesson they received may 
be for their nation's ultimate good, but it is difficult not to be 
moved to some sentiment of compassion by the spectacle of a 
great nation put to such signal shame." l 

To the shame of the Chinese on this occasion was added a 
disgrace of another sort acquired at Port Arthur, which is 
likely long to affect the reputation of the Japanese in the eyes 
of Christian peoples. It was here that the victors repaid sav- 
agery with savagery, and gave some credit to the sneer of their 
detractors that their civilization is only veneer. What hap- 
pened after the fall of the stronghold has been vigorously 
denied by those chiefly implicated, but the witnesses to their 
conduct are too numerous and too reputable to be disbelieved. 
Upon entering the town the Japanese found the heads and 
mutilated corpses of a few of their captured comrades sus- 

1 China Gazette (Shanghai), December 1, 1894. 



THE MASSACRE AT PORT ARTHUR. 453 

pended near the gates, and moved by the sight to a common 
impulse of fury, the soldiers broke at once into a disorderly 
pursuit of every living thing to be found in the place. Under 
the circumstances this might be considered a pardonable out- 
burst of feeling; but the slaughter of non-combatants thus be- 
gun continued apparently without interference from their 
officers during four or five days in the town and outlying vil- 
lages, and, not content with shooting their victims wherever 
found, the rampant soldiery hacked at their bodies and insulted 
them in unimaginable ways. It was a gratuitous ebullition of 
barbarism, a revolting repudiation of pretended humanity. 
" More of these piteous deaths we saw," says a correspond- 
ent on the spot, 1 " unable to stay the hands of the murderers, 
until sick and saddened beyond the power of words to tell 
we slowly made our way in the gathering gloom to head- 
quarters. There at the Chinese general's pavilion, facing the 
spacious parade-ground, Field-Marshal Oyama and all his 
officers assembled amid strains of strange music from military 
bands, now weird, now lively, and ending with the impressive 
national anthem, ' Kimi gayo,' and a huge roar from 20,- 
000 throats of Banzai Nippon. The contrast was hor- 
rible, insufferable." It must be added, moreover, that the 
Japanese had posted notices written in 'Chinese all over the 
place that the natives would be kindly treated who surrendered 
their arms and did not attempt escape. This had also been 
done after Ping yang, and the conquerors there had lived up to 
their word. Now the wretched inhabitants who believed and 
remained found no mercy, because their countrymen had known 
none when, in accordance with Asiatic usage, they butchered 
their prisoners. And the officers made no effort to stay their 
men. It was perhaps not altogether unnatural, but Western 
nations will not soon forget this quick relapse to the level of 
their despised antagonists. 2 

1 London Times, January 9 and February 1, 1894. 

2 The foreign witnesses to this incident were the newspaper correspondents, 
military attaches, and members of the Red Cross Society, who attended one 
or both armies. The severest indictments against the Japanese were pub- 
lished by the New York World correspondent, Mr. J. Creelman. in his news- 



454 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

Port Arthur and Talien at once became the naval base for 
the further operations of the Japanese, while the second army, 
after the intoxication of victory had passed, addressed itself 
composedly to the task of driving the enemy's few remaining 
troops out of Liautung and advancing in force to the mouth of 
the Liau at the head of the gulf. Meantime the first arm)-, 
having crossed the Yalu, October 24th, the same day on which 
a landing was effected at Hwa yuan, occupied the important 
positions of Chiu lien (Kiu len tsz'), Antung, and Ta tung kau, 
and began the advance across Southern Manchuria in three 
divisions. With the approach of winter, campaigning in this 
country, which is similar in climate and many physical features 
to the Province of Quebec, became increasingly difficult. 1 
The Chinese resistance, though ineffective, was more persist- 
ent, while the Japanese army was too small to both conquer 
and hold a difficult region without severe exertion that might, 
had the enemy understood his advantage, have fatally strained 
their strength. But other motives were at work which made 
Marshal Yamagata willing to delay. First of these was the 
necessity of waiting until Port Arthur fell and the second army 
could secure its left flank from attack by advancing to the 
line of the Liau Piver; this conjunction was not effected until 
the middle of January. Secondly, there appears on the part 
of the Japanese ministry from this time an increasing disin- 
clination to push the Chinese government too hard, lest in 
sheer despair it would sacrifice its future and invite the inter- 
vention of some European power, or lest its military disasters, 
by arousing a rebellion, should suddenly sweep the reigning 
dynasty from the Throne, leaving no power with whom peace 
might be made and the country itself a prey to ravening for- 
eigners. How greatly apprehensions like these influenced 



paper, and by Mr. Frederic Villiers in the North American Review for March, 
1895 ; both perhaps unduly emphasized the horrors of the affair. Compare 
Mr. Dun's despatches (88 and 90) in United States Foreign Relations, 1894, 
Appendix I. The number killed after the surrender is variously estimated 
at between two thousand and three thousand. 

'The region is described in Williamson's Journeys, H. E. M. James's Long 
White Mountain, and F. E. Younghusband's Heart of a Continent. 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MANCHUKIA. 455 

Japanese policy will not soon be known, but it is interesting 
to note from this time onward their circumspection, their pa- 
tience with the vacillating and undignified Chinese efforts to 
secure a suspension of hostilities, and the moderation of their 
terms when peace was ultimately concluded. The fall of Muk- 
den, the old home of the reigning dynasty, and the burial- 
place of its earlier sovereigns, would have been a paralyzing 
blow to Manchu pride, involving a loss of prestige among their 
Chinese subjects quite incommensurate with its strategic im- 
portance. It is possible with this in mind to account for the 
feverish though futile efforts of the Chinese to protect the 
provincial capital, and the evident reluctance of the Japanese 
to incur the grave political embarrassments which its downfall 
might involve. Their troops after the capture of Ying tsz' 
(Ying kow, one of the treaty ports known as Ninchwang) and 
Haiching held the country effectually in their grasp, but they 
never advanced beyond the River Liau. 

Before considering the tentative efforts of the Chinese Court 
toward arranging a truce with its adversary, it remains to de- 
scribe the capture of Wei hai wei, which was important as a 
feat of arms rather than for its ultimate effect upon the course 
of the war. The village which gives its name to this fortress 
stands upon a deep bay in Shantung Promontory, the sea ap- 
proach to which is defended by the large island of Liu kung, 
and a smaller one called Jih tau. About the circuit of the bay 
the ground rises abruptly from the water's edge to fine hills or 
bluffs between five hundred and fifteen hundred feet in height, 
which have been crowned by twelve forts of modern type, 
while three forts on the islands protect the entrance. These 
batteries were armed with fifty-seven guns, many of them quick- 
firing, and several mounted on disappearing carriages. In the 
harbor, which has anchor room for a whole navy, lay the poor 
residue of Admiral Ting's defeated squadron and such others 
as were left to China in her emergency — nine war-ships, six 
small gun-boats, and eleven torpedo-boats. These vessels could 
co-operate with the land batteries for the defence of the station, 
but they were imprisoned in the bay by two torpedo-booms 
stretched across the entrances to protect them from the Japan- 



456 HISTOET OF CHINA. 

ese fleet. The troops manning forts and ships together ap- 
pear to have amounted to less than 10,000, a very inadequate 
number. 1 Such was the formidable place which the Japanese 
had determined to reduce, both to insure complete control of 
the Gulf of Pechele and to remove the danger from the rem- 
nant of the Pei yang sqnadron sheltered there. Like Port 
Arthur, the fortress might, under spirited leadership, have held 
out almost indefinitely against anything the enemy could bring 
against it, but the fighting spirit was as deplorably lacking 
here as there. The whole line of Chinese fortifications at 
Wei hai wei was, moreover, much too long to be held without 
the active aid of a field army, well organized and well handled ; 
this, of course, they did not have, and the comparative useless- 
ness of forts without soldiers to support them was clearly 
demonstrated by the Japanese success in this campaign. 

Operations were begun about the middle of January by a 
feigned attack of the Japanese squadron upon Tangchau and 
the destruction of the telegraph line near Yung ching. The 
invading army of 27,000 men, under Marshal Oyama, sailed 
from Talien Bay in fifty transports, accompanied by the entire 
available Japanese fleet, and landed, January 23d, in the Bay 
of Yung ching, immediately south of the extreme promontory 
of Shantung, and thirty-seven miles by land from Wei hai wei. 
The advance was made, as usual, in two columns. There was 
some show of fighting at the outset, but when first one fort 
fell, and then another, the remainder were evacuated without 
even the precaution of rendering their guns useless. Taking 
advantage of a storm of such severity as to compel the Japan- 
ese to suspend operations on February 1st, Admiral Ting 
landed a few sailors, who destroyed all the guns in the western 
forts before they could be taken, thus saving his ships and the 
islands from bombardment. So long as these remained intact 
the conquered town was an unpleasant resting-place for the 
invader, whose heaviest cannon in the eastern batteries were 
too far away to reach the anchorage, and whose fleet could not 



1 The Japanese gave the total strength of the Chinese at the time of the 
capitulation at 3,084 navy, and 2,040 army. 



THE FALL OF WEI IIAI WEI. 457 

cross the torpedo-booms, covered as they were by the island 
forts. His dilemma was presently solved by one of the most 
remarkable and effective torpedo attacks attempted in modern 
warfare. On the night of February 4th-5th a flotilla of ten 
torpedo-boats succeeded in removing one end of the booms, 
and, stealing into the harbor, sank the battle-ship Ting yuen. 
Instantly the whole bay was a pandemonium of noise, while a 
hail of bullets fell upon the little craft as they sought to escape 
in the darkness. Two were lost and two disabled, but the rest 
escaped, and only fourteen men in all were killed or drowned. 
On the following night the attack was renewed with five boats, 
three of which succeeded in getting to the anchorge and de- 
stroying the Lai yuen and the Wei yuen, together with a 
transport, the Pao Awa, with no casualties. This appalling loss 
sealed the doom of the Chinese. Their torpedo-boats and two 
steam-launches dashed out from cover on the morning of the 
8th, and made what shift they could to escape into the gulf. 
It is a significant testimony to the far-reaching nature of 
Chinese ineptitude and mal-administration that all this craft 
failed even in running away. If a torpedo-boat is good for 
anything it ought to be for speed, but these badly kept little 
vessels were in no condition to distance the fleet Yoshino which 
pursued them, and all were in time either sunk or captured or 
run ashore. In the combined action of the Japanese on shore 
and water against the islands the day following, the cruiser 
Ching yuen was sunk by two well-placed shells fired from the 
forts held by the enemy. 

All that was left now was the brave old Admiral Ting with 
four fighting vessels and the Liu knng forts. To the credit of 
Admiral Ito and Marshal Oyama it must be recorded that 
they showed a humanity quite unusual in Asiatics, having in- 
vited him at the commencement of these operations to surren- 
der to the inevitable and take refuge in Japan until peace was 
concluded, when he might be allowed to return and effect the 
necessary military reforms in his country. In his remarkable 
letter to him Admiral Ito makes an observation that deserves 
especial notice for its historica'l interest. He attributes the 
real cause of Chinese disaster to the literary class. 



458 HISTOKY OF CHINA. 

" It is not the fault of one man," he writes, "that has brought China into 
the position she now occupies ; the blame rests with the errors of a Govern- 
ment that has long administered affairs. She selects her servants by compet- 
itive examination, and literary attainments are the test. Thus it results that 
her officers, the repositories of administrative power, are all literati, and litera- 
ture is honored above everything. Her practice in this respect is as uniform 
as it was a thousand years ago. It is not necessarily a defective svstem, nor 
does it necessarily produce a bad government. But a country can never pre- 
serve its independence in practise by such means. For you know well what 
troubles Japan had to encounter thirty years ago, what perils she hau. to sur- 
mount. She owes her preservation and her integrity to-day wholly to the 
fact that she then broke away from the old and attached herself to the new. 
In the case of your country also that must be the cardinal course at present; 
if you adopt it I venture to say that you are safe ; if you reject it you cannot 
escape destruction. In a contest with Japan it has long been fated that you 
should witness results such as are now before you. Can it be the duty of 
faithful subjects of the Empire, men really solicitous for its welfare, to swim 
idly with the tide now sweeping over the country by the decree of an ancient 
fate, making no effort to stem it ? ... To hand over squadrons to the 
foe, to surrender a whole army to the enemy, these are mere bagatelles com- 
pared with the fate of a country." 1 

It was the voice of the present addressing the dead past ; 
there was no response. Admiral Ting, who is almost alone as 
an example of high honor in high command on his side during 
this war, was loyal only as a Chinaman understands loyalty. 
He knew the fate that awaits the defeated general in China ; 
lie also knew his duty as he had been taught. Making no reply 
to Ito's communication until the fall of the fortress was im- 
minent, he then surrendered the helpless remnant of the fleet 
and forts (February 12th) and, together with three or four 
naval and military officers, committed suicide. It is pleasant to 
add that the enemy showed their appreciation of the defeated, 
but not dishonored, leader by returning his body to Chifu in 
the Kwang tsi, one of the surrendered steamers. The four 
men-of-war and six gun-boats delivered up were estimated as 
being worth 30,000,000 yen to the Japanese. All the land 
forts at Wei hai wei were destroyed by its captors, but Liu 
kunsr island and anchorage were held bv a garrison until the 
conclusion of hostilities. Within a month of the day on which 
they landed at Yung cliing the remainder of the army were 

1 Translated from the Nichi NicM Shimbun. 



CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES. 459 

re-embarked for Talien, where they joined the troops in Man- 
churia. 

With the fall of Wei hai wei and the further successes in 
Manchuria, culminating in the capture of Old Niuchwang, 
Japan had secured all the prestige and possessions necessary to 
dictate her own terms of peace. An expedition to the Pesca- 
dores in March, which effected the reduction of the forts on 
Pang hit, the principal island of the group, a convenient base 
for operations against Formosa, was the only other military 
movement of importance undertaken during the war. By 
this time, however, both sides were devoting their best ener- 
gies, not to the continuance of the conflict, but to arranging 
a peace. Some ineffectual efforts to this end had already been 
made by China. Soon after the fall of Port Arthur, Mr. 
Detring, an American employee of the government as Customs 
Commissioner at Tientsin, had been sent to Japan with propo- 
sitions of peace, but either through sheer fatuousness or igno- 
rance of diplomatic usage the envoy was furnished with a let- 
ter from Li Hung-chang in lieu of suitable credentials, and 
the Japanese prime-minister refused to see him. He was 
promptly recalled, but when a second mission was sent in Jan- 
uary to Japan with two plenipotentiaries and a considerable 
retinue, together with General John W. Foster, ex-secretary 
of state of the United States, as adviser, and the credentials 
again proved to be insufficient, the Court at Peking laid itself 
open to the charge of trifling or something worse in a very 
serious national predicament. It is hardly probable, however, 
that this apparent tergiversation arose from anything but the 
pitiable incapacity of a palace council distraught with appre- 
hension and as helpless in this emergency as it had been in 
1861. An attempt was first made to amend the instructions 
given to the Ministers Chang and Shao, but a person of greater 
reputation and authority was manifestly needed in the exi- 
gency. Through the masterful influence of the Empress 
Dowager the Viceroy Li Hung-chang was restored to the 
honors that had been taken from him after the early disasters 
of the war and ordered to Shimonoseki with plenary powers. 
This astute statesman was able to forestall the criticisms of his 



460 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

personal enemies by inviting every official of the first rank to 
send a memorial on the advisability of concluding the war, 
and, since the necessity of so doing was obvious, he had no 
difficulty in thus securing for his mission the moral support of 
the literati, besides the expressed command of his sovereign. 
The viceroy, with a respectable suite numbering one hundred 
and thirty-two persons, again including General Foster as con- 
fidential adviser, landed at Shimonoseki on March 20th, and at 
once began negotiations. With no possible chance left to de- 
fend herself on land or on sea, China, so soon as she gave over 
her shuffling policy and consented to sue in earnest for peace, 
was let off with only the abandonment of her old pretensions 
as to Korea, the cession of Formosa, the Pescadores, and Liau 
tung Promontory, and the payment of an indemnity. While 
these terms were under consideration occurred a savage attempt 
on the part of a fanatic to assassinate the aged Chinese en- 
voy. Fortunately the wound inflicted was slight ; the incident 
caused, however, a feeling of profound mortification in the 
breasts of the sensitive Japanese. It had the beneficent effect 
for Li's country of inducing the Japanese Emperor to assent 
immediately to an armistice (March 30th), which was made 
perpetual b} r the signature of a treaty on April 17th. 1 



1 The treaty, which was ratified at Chif u, May 8th, ceded to Japan the 
promontory of Liau tung, Formosa, and the Pescadores, provided for the 
independence of Korea, an indemnity of Tls. 2,000,000, to be paid in in- 
stalments within seven years, the opening to foreign trade of Shashi in 
Hupeh, Chungking, in Sz'chuen, Suchau, in Kiangsu, and Hangchau, in 
Chekiang, navigation of the Woosung and upper Yangtsz', the right to erect 
warehouses in the interior and to engage in manufacturing in China, and the 
gradual withdrawal of the Japanese troops. The Liau tung clause was 
subsequently omitted, for which China paid an additional sum of Tls. 
50,000,000. The indemnity was reduced from Tls. 3.000 000 to Tls. 
2,000,000, the new treaty ports from seven to four, and the navigation of 
the Siang and West Rivers, at first demanded, withdrawn during the nego- 
tiations. The commercial treaty also provided for in the compact was not 
concluded until the fall of 1896. Its most important provision allows the 
right of manufacture by Japan within China, " the taxation on such under- 
takings to be governed entirely by the Shimonoseki Treaty," which leaves 
the privilege rather obscure. The commercial provisions of the treaty are 
likely to embody the most important results of the war in case China remains 



THE TREATY OF SHIMONOSEKI. 461 

No more significant indication of the increasing importance 
of Eastern Asia in the world's politics has appeared in recent 
years than the concern with which this war was watched by 
European governments. It had been a revelation of the enor- 
mous value of scientific training and modern military methods 
over mere numbers in antique array ; more than this, it de- 
molished China's pretensions to rank among political powers 
of the first magnitude and proclaimed Japan as likely to be- 
come the foremost factor in Asiatic politics. Without paus- 
ing in this concluding paragraph to discuss the historical con- 
sequence of the appearance of a new military power in the 
family of nations, its full gravity must be understood in order 
to comprehend the attitude of those European states that have 
within a century accustomed themselves to regard Asia as a 
territory wholly at their disposal. Japan's victory introduced 
a power naturally at variance with any division of the spoil 
that would be suggested by Europeans, a rival claimant for 
supremacy in the Far East that, politically speaking, was born 
but yesterday. Her military successes were so rapid and over- 
whelming as to offer no opportunity for armed interference 
during the eight months of the war ; there occurred no long 
sieges like those of Sevastapol and Plevna, when an outsider 
might call a halt. But at the conclusion of peace it was feared 
that the pride of Japan if unopposed might be liable in future 
to commit any excess. Two plans remained open to interested 
European statesmen : to proceed at once to the partition of 
China between themselves and Japan, or to compel the vic- 
torious nation to surrender some part of its spoil, and preserve 
for China at least the form and outward show of her indepen- 
dence. A coalition of Russia, France, and Germany decided 
upon the latter programme ; Great Britain, either through dis- 
like or indifference, declined to join them, thereby gaining from 
Japan whatever feeling of gratitude she might lose in China. 
Japan was advised to withdraw the demand for Liau tung, in- 



an autonomous state. The periodical literature upon the political and trad- 
ing aspects of China as affected by the war and its concluding treaty is too 
recent and accessible to call for specification. 



462 HISTORY OF CHINA. 

eluding the fortress of Port Arthur ; in view of the armed 
forces representing these three military nations she consented, 
but the bitterness of the humiliation thus inflicted upon a sen- 
sitive and impetuous people is something that, though bravely 
concealed, remains to be reckoned with in the future. 



INDEX. 



A 



BEL, Clarke, 106. 
Abu Zaid's work on China, 34, 62, 
73. 

Adams, J. Quincy, mistaken idea of 
Chinese War, 117. 

Aksu, in Hi, Yakub Beg captures, 378. 

Alcock, Sir R, 275. 

Almanac, given by China to Korean King, 
437. 

Amherst, Lord, embassy to Peking, 106. 

American, trade with China, 108 ; and 
Governor-General Lin at Canton, 172; \ 
embassy concludes treaty of Wanghia, I 
215 ; homicide of a Chinese in Canton, I 
216 ; Chinese favorably disposed to, 218 ; j 
fleet destroy the Barrier forts, 286 ; 
government asked to co-operate with 
Great Britain, 290 ; Minister Reed, ar- 
rives, 291 ; Minister Ward assists in 
checking coolie trade, 311 ; negotiations 
at Taku forts, 313 ; embassy escorted to 
Peking, 317 ; minister declines to kotow, 
318 ; sailor hung for murder at Shang- 
hai, 344 ; treaty with China negotiates 
by Burlingame, 346 ; missionaries flee 
from Tangchau, 353; commission of 
inquiry to Sz'chuen, 436; treaty with 
Korea, 438. 

Amoy, Chinese and Dutch take, 86 ; trade 
of East India Company at, 93, 96 ; capt- 
ured by the British, 172, 176 ; not hos- 
tile to foreigners, 221 : during Tai-ping 
Rebellion, 277. 

Anderson, Dr. J., 377, 379. 380. 

Annam, and France, 390 ; Chinese suze- 
rainty over, 392, 395, 438 ; French pro- 
tectorate over, 403. 

Anti-foreign riots in China, 348, 419-436. 

Au-ting man, Peking gate opened to the 
allied troops, 334. 

Arab travellers in China, 62, 79. 

Army of China, condition at outbreak of 
Tai-ping Rebellion, 138 ; in war with 
Japan, 450. 

Arrow, case of the lorcha, 283-286. 

Ashmore, Rev. W.. 431, 433, 435. 

Asan, Korea, fighting near, 443, 444. 



Auber, on foreign trade, 98, 101. 

Audience, before Chinese Emperor, Dutch, 
83 ; Lord Macartney's, 103 ; question not 
raised by Minister Cushing, 118 ; dis- 
cussed by Minister Ward, at the capital, 
317 ; description of, at Yuen-ming 
yuen, 331 ; first, granted to all foreign 
ministers, 362 ; renewed discussion and 
settlement, 413. 

BABER, E. C, with Grosvenor mis- 
sion, 371, 372. 

Bakninh, in Tongking, 394, 397. 

Ball, J. Dyer, 434, 435. 

Bamboo books, the, their authenticity, 15, 
21. 

Barrier forts, Canton River, destroyed by 
Americans, 286. 

Barrow, J., 103. 

Behaine, Bishop Pigneaux de, in Annam, 
390. 

Bell, John, residence in Peking, 90. 

Bible, mention of China in, 56 ; revision 
and J. R. Morrison, 108. 

Black flags in Tongking, 393, 396. 

Bogue, or Bocca Tigris, Canton River, 
negotiations with Kishen at, 165 ; forts 
taken, 168 ; destroyed again, 176 ; sup- 
plementary treaty signed at, 209 ; 
Governor Davis retakes the forts, 221. 

Bonham, Governor, visits Tai-pings at 
Nanking, 225; advised by Canton 
gentry not to enter the city, 273. 

Book of Record* {Shu King), 12 ff., 35. 

Books, burned by Tsin, 27 ; destroyed at 
Canton, 274. 

Boulger, D. C, 3 ; on Turkestan, 376 ; on 
Mohammedan revolt, 378, 379. 

Boundary disputes, on the Amur, 89 ; at 
Kuldja, 381. 

Bowring, Sir J. , and Viceroy Yeh, 281 ; 
his character, 282 ; and the Arrow case, 
283 ; opens hostilities, 285 ; his conduct 
discussed in Parliament, 289. 

Braam, A. van, Dutch Ambassador to 
China, 87. 

Bremer, Sir G., attacks Tinghai, 162; 



464 



INDEX. 



captures Bogue forts, 165, 168 ; sails for 
Calcutta. 169. 

Bretschneider, Dr. E., 61. 

Bruce, Sir F. A., and the Ever-Victorious 
force, 259 ; endorses Gorden's conduct, 
267 ; sent by Lord Elgin to Tientsin, 
803 ; repairs to Taku with allies, 312, 
313, 319, 320; and the Lay-Osborne 
flotilla affair, 341, 342 ; his influence in 
China, 347. 

Buddha's relics sought by Chinese em- 
bassy, 62. 

Buddhism, introduced into China, 29 ; in 
the fourth century, 31 ; and the Em- 
peror Wuti, 32. 

Buddhist, pilgrims between China and 
India, 61 ; notions of cosmogony, 5 ; 
charm cut in Kii-yung kwan, 42. 

Burgevine, Henry, commands the Ever- 
Victorious force, 257 ; joins the Tai- 
pings, 261 ; proposal to Gordon, 262. 

Builingame, Anson, 343 ; represents China 
to foreign powers, 344 ; his death, 346 ; 
personal influence in China, 347. 

Burma, becomes British, 408 ; aa a fief of 
China, 408, 488. 

Bushell, Dr. S. W., 26, 40. 



CAILLAUD, F. R. de, 392. 
Canfu (Kanpu), 52 ; Abu Zaid on, 
63. 

Cannon found at Tinghai, 173 ; at Shang- 
hai, 184 ; at the Barrier Forts, 286. 

Canton, taken by Manchus in 1650, 45; 
Roman Embassy reaches, 58 ; East In- 
dia Company at, 94 ; homicides among 
foreigners at, 99; Lord Napier at, 115— 
21 ; Lin detains foreigners in, 146 ; El- 
liot leaves, 151 ; fortified, 161, 169 ; El- 
liot accepts ransom for, 171 ; dislike of 
foreigners in, 203 ; Kiying sent to, 205 ; 
troubles with foreigners at, 216 ; admis- 
sion of foreigners to, 221 ; lawlessness 
at, 228 ; sentiment in, 273 ; rebels about, 
278 ; their wholesale execution. 280 ; Ad- 
miral Seymour enters, 286 ; French le- 
gation withdraws from, 287 ; captured 
by Franco-British forces, 292 ; Elgin's 
tact at, 295. 309 ; coolies serve British 
at Taku, 322 ; French missionary ag- 
gressions at. 357 ; river obstructed dur- 
ing hostilities with France, 401. 

Cathay, signification in Middle Ages, 56. 

Ceylon, Yungloh's expedition against, 62. 

Chang-an, in Shensi. See Si-ngan. 

Changchau, in Fuhkien, captured by Tai- 
pings, 258. 

Chang Chi-tung, 419. 

Changsha stormed by Tai-pings, 243. 

Chapu, 62; captured by the British, 181. 

Chau Dynasty, 23-26, 28; After Chau, 
38. 

Chau-sin, Emperor of the Shang, 22. 



Chen-yuen y battleship, 448, 449. 

Chifu, in Shantung, French at, 320 ; Con- 
vention, 372, 406 ; during war with 
Japan, 458 ; treaty ratified at, 460. 

Children, in Romanist asylum at Tien- 
tsin, 348 ; rumors as to Catholics kid- 
napping, 423. 

Chin Dynasty, 32. 

China, probable origin from Tsin, 27 ; 
early history, 1 ; earliest notices of, 56 ; 
condition of, after Opium War, 221 ; 
forcibly opened, 304 ; condition in 1&65, 
340 ; hopeful prospects for, 386 ; polioy 
toward vassals, 392, 437 ; attitude in 
Port Hamilton affair, 410 ; and foreign 
powers in compensation for riots, 4bii ; 
and Korea, 437 ; appeals to Russia, 442 ; 
naval power shattered, 449 ; concludes 
peace with Japan, 460. 

Chinchew, or Tsiuenchau, the ancient 
Zayton, 70, 76. 

Chinese, chronology and cosmogony, 2-10 ; 
their origin, 10 ; adopt the queue, 45 ; 
isolation and suspicion of foreigners, 
54 ; ideas of foreigners influenced by 
Portuguese, 75 ; maltreated by Spanish 
in Manila, SO; terms for "foreigner," 
109 ; view of the Opium War, 1 56 ; feel- 
ing during Tai-ping troubles, 252, 273 ; 
abused by foreigners, 354 ; character ex- 
hibited during the great famine, 883, 
384 ; Education Commission to the 
United States, 387, 388 ; suzerainty over 
Annam, 392 ; tendency to combine, 433 ; 
declare war with Japan. 444 ; ineptuess 
in war, 446 ; demoralization at Port Ar- 
thur, 452; corruption evident every- 
where, 405, 457. 

Chinhai, in Chehkiang, captured, 174. 

Chin Hwa-ching, Chinese General at Wu- 
sung, 182,_ 183. _ 

Chinkiang, in Kiangsu, taken by British, 
188 ; by Tai-pings, 244 ; recaptured by 
rebels, 253 ; riot at, 432. 

Christianity, in Formosa 82 ; Hung Siu- 
tsuen converted to, 234, 236 ; in Tai- 
ping movement, 248 ; Elgin to mission- 
aries upon, 297 ; an official opinion of, 
355 ; persecuted in Sz'chuen, 420, 421 ; 
imperial edict endorsing, 432. 

Chronology, Chinese, 1 ; its claim to be- 
lief, 9. 

Chu Han, author of anti-foreign libels, 
434. 

Chu Hi, commentator of Confucius, on 
cosmogony. 7 ; on the tablets of Yu, 10 ; 
the scholar in politics, 40. 

Chun, the Seventh Prince, 374 ; made 
prime minister, 398 ; emerges from the 
Palace and visits arsenals, etc. , 405 ; and 
Western science, 415, 419. 

Chunghow, escorts American embassy to 
Peking, 316 ; and the Tientsin riot, 350, 
351 ; sent to France, 353 ; abused by 



INDEX. 



465 



foreign press, 354 ; in Russia, 379 ; his 
punishment, 3S0. 

Chungking, in Sz'chuen, opened to trade, 
425. 

Chusan Archipelago, British in, 163 ; re- 
stored, 228. 

Cochin-China seized by France, 391. 

Colquhoun, A. R, 405, 406. 

Commerce. See Trade. 

Confucius, temple to, at Peking, 25 ; and 
the early emperors, 12 ; writings burned, 
27. 

Coolie trade, and Kwangtung rebellion, 
279; its atrocities, 310; laborers em- 
ployed by British at Taku, 332 ; conven- 
tion respecting, 346; finally abolished, 
363. 

Cooper, T. T., 367. 

Cordier, Henri, 272, 397. 

Corea. See Korea. 

Cosmogony, Chinese, 3 ; Chu Hi's, 7. 

Courbet, Admiral, 397 ; at Fuhchau, 399, 
and Formosa, 400. 

Creelman, J. , 453. 

Cunningham. A., 427. 

Curzon, G. K, 414, 435. 

Cushing, Caleb, United States Minister to 
China, 213 ; concludes a treaty at Wang- 
hia, 215 ; correspondence in homicide 
case, 216. 

Customs, Chinese Imperial, management 
by foreigners, 275, 306 ; under Sir R. 
Hart, 343; disliked by literati, 419; 
house at Wuhu attacked, 422. 

Cycle adopted by Hwangti, 12. 



D'AVEZAC, 64, 66. 
Davis, Sir J. , meets Kiying, 215 ; 
takes the Bogue forts, 221, 222; his 
China during the War, 224. 

De Guignes, 58, 87. 

Deluge of Yao, probably an inundation, 
13. 

Denby, Colonel Charles, 411 ; his defence 
of missions, 436. 

Dent, Thomas, invited to meet Lin, 147 ; 
conducted to the consulate by Elliot, 
148 ; desired as a hostage. 156. 

Detring, Commissioner, 398, 459. 

Dew, Captain, captures Mngpo, 257; be- 
fore Shauhing, 258. 

Douglas, R. K, 398. 

Dudgeon, Dr. J., 91. 

DuHalde, J. B.,91,367. 

Dunganis, Mohammedan tribe, and Yakub 
Beg, 375 ; their revolt, 378. 

Dupre, Admiral, 394. 

Dupuis, T., filibusterer in Tongking, 392, 
394. 

Dutch, driven from Formosa by Koxinga, 
46 ; in the Pescadores, 101 ; Chinese 
notice of the, 75 ; trade and embassies to 
China, 82. 



| Dutch Folly Fort, at Canton, British 

bombard from, 288. 
1 Dynasties, table of Chinese, 52. 

EAST INDIA COMPANY, influence 
and character in China, 91 ; mo- 
nopoly ceases, 107, 111 ; attempts to 
trade at Fuhchau, 93 ; controls British 
in China, 101 ; its responsibility, 106 ; 
its cessation, 107, 386. 

Eclipses, noticed in the Shu King. 15. 

Elgin, Lord, on the Arrow case, 285; 
reaches China, 291 ; before Canton, 292 ; 
forms a provisional government there, 
294 ; replies to Shanghai missionaries, 
297 ; at Tientsin, 299, 3l3 ; visits Tai- 
pings at Hankow, 305 ; among natives 
near Canton, 309; reappointed pleni- 
potentiary, 319 ; refuses surrender of 
Taku forts, 325 ; view of the pillage of 
Yuen-ming Yuen, 331 ; orders its de- 
struction, 332 ; signs treaty of Peking, 
334 ; his character, 336. 

Elliot, Charles, British superintendent of 
trade, 129; his opinion of opium trade, 
130 ; ordered to drive away the opium 
ships, 139 ; exertions against smuggling, 
144 ; offers co-operation with Lin, 147 ; 
circular on surrender of opium, 150 ; 
leaves Canton, 151 ; retires to ships, 154 ; 
efi'ect upon Lin of his protecting Mr. 
Dent, 157 ; returns as plenipotentiary, 
163 ; interview with Kishen, 164 ; at 
the Bogue, 166 ; his humane policy, 167 ; 
reward offered for, 168 ; ransoms Can- 
ton, 171 ; superseded by Sir H. Pot- 
tinger, 172. 

Elliot, G., British admiral, 163. 

Ellis, Henry, 106. 

Embassy, received by Kienlung, 48 ; from 
Rome to China, 58; Ibn Batuta, 70; 
under the Mings, 74 ; Portuguese, 76 ; 
Spanish, 80; Dutch, 86, 87; Lord 
Macartney's, 102 ; Lord Amherst's, 106 ; 
Pottinger inquires as to reception of, 
200 ; Chinese, under Burlingame. 345 ; 
tribute, from Annam, 395 ; from Korea, 
437. 

Emigration of Chinese to America, 347. 

Emperor of China, in Chinese annals, 20 ; 
Ming and Tsing dynasties, 52 ; succes- 
sion of the present, 374 ; his accession 
to chrone, 410 ; audiences. 414. 

Empress-regent, during Tungchi, 50 ; 
critical position of, at death of Hien- 
fung, 339; and marriage of Tungchi, 
358; of Kwangsu, 411 ; death of Tsz' 
An, the "Eastern," 375; Tsz' Hi dis- 
misses Prince Kung, 397 ; and Liu Ping- 
chang, 436 ; retires, 411 ; and Li Hung- 
chang, 412, 459. 

England, attitude at commencement of 
opium war, 158; observations upon, 
220 ; China and Japan, 409, 461. 



466 



INDEX. 



English, attempt trade in 1635 and 1664, 
92 ; and French sailors quarrel, 99 ; 
troops at Macao, 104 ; and Chinese ex- 
pectations of Napier, 114 ; petition to 
king from, at Canton, 124 ; losses in 
opium war, 204 ; murder of, near Can- 
ton, 226 ; consuls at Chinese ports, 227 ; 
waive right to enter Canton, 221, 273; 
attack pirates, 280 ; flag insulted, 283 ; 
open hostilities at Canton, 286 ; opinion 
at home supports Palmer ston, 289 ; in- 
fluence of consular body in China, 337 ; 
explorers in Yunnan, 366-370 ; jealousy 
of French in Tongking, 398 ; conces- 
sions as to Chinese suzerainty over 
Burma, 408 ; seizure of Port Hamilton, 
409. 

Escayrac-de-Lauture, Comte de, impris- 
oned at Peking, 332. 

Ever- Victorious Force (Chang-shing 
Kinri), organized by General Ward, 
255 ; under Colonel Gordon, 257 ; uni- 
form and character, 259 ; captures Fu- 
shan, etc., 260 ; before Suchau, 261 ; last 
operations, 265 ; dissolved, June, 1864, 
266. 

Exports, duties on, in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, 95. 

Ex-territoriality, its inherent wrong, 
305 ; Chinese inquire concerning, 307 ; 
indirect influence of, 343 ; assumption 
of, by British Minister, 374 ; proposed 
extension, 430. 

FACTORIES, the, Canton, 122; at- 
tacked by Chinese mob, 143 ; Lin 
shuts foreigners in, 148 ; occupied by 
British troops, 169; brawl and fire at, 
204 ; burned by Gov. Yeh, 287. 

Famine, of 1878, extent, 382 ; relieved by 
foreigners, 384 ; follows Yellow River 
flood, 418. 

Fan kwei, " foreign devil," use and influ- 
ence of epithet, 109 ; its gradual disap- 
pearance, 310 ; in Wusueh, 424. 

Fisher, Col. G. B., 308, 311, 315, 316, 323. 

Five Sovereigns, the, of Chinese legendary 
history, 8-14. 

Flint tries to establish trade, 96 ; is im- 
prisoned, 97. 

Foochow. See Fuhchau. 

Foreigners in China, Chinese contempt 
for, 98-102; terms for, 109; kept like 
animals in Canton, 125 ; imprisoned in 
the factories, 148 ; disliked by natives, 
156 ; comprehended in treaty of Nan- 
king, 209; hated by Cantonese, 226, 
228 ; and the Tai-pings at Nanking, 
245 ; none injured by rebels, 252 ; en- 
listed by rebels, 254 ; and by imperial- 
ists, 255 ; in the Ever-Victorious force, 
259 ; collect duties for government at 
Shanghai, 275 ; Chinese opinion of, af- 
ter war of 1860, 337; on Chinese war 



vessels, 340 ; abuse China, 354 ; admitted 
to imperial audience, 362, 413 ; assist in 
relieving famine of 1878, 383 ; and 
Franco-Chinese hostilities in 1884, 401 ; 
an Order of the Double Dragon in- 
stituted for, 404 ; concerted movement 
of the literati against, 420 ; their indis- 
cretions, 433; treatment of, improved 
by Sz'chuen commission, 437. 

Formosa, or Taiwan, Dutch driven from, 
46, 81-86 ; massacre of shipwrecked 
crews on, 202 ; during Tai-ping re- 
bellion, 252 ; Japanese raid on, 364 ; 
development of, 366 ; attacked by the 
French, 400 ; ceded to Japan, 459-460. 

Forts, at the Bogue, 168 ; at Taku, 324 ; 
at Port Arthur, 451 ; at Wei hai wei, 
455-457, 

Foster, Gen. J. W., 459. 

Fournier convention, 398. 

French, relations with China, 89; and 
English brawls at Canton, 99 ; treaty of 
Whampoa, 219 ; attack rebels at Shang- 
hai, 276 ; legation leaves Canton, 287 ; 
grievance against China, 290; conven- 
tion of Peking, 335 ; massacred at 
Tientsin, 348 ; action in consequence, 
351, 435 ; interest in Indo-China, 390 ; 
acquire protectorate over Tongking, 395 ; 
destroy Fuhchau arsenal, 399 ; unwill- 
ing to invade China, 402 ; protect all Ro- 
man Catholics in China, 407 ; and Korea, 
437 ; coalition with Russia and Germany 
to check Japan, 461. 

Fuhchau (Foochow), van Hoorn reaches, 
86 ; East India Company tries trade at, 
93 ; treatment of foreigners at, 228 ; ar- 
senal established at, 344 ; arsenal de- 
stroyed by French, 399 ; head-quarters 
of Nanyang, 405. 

Fuh-hi, the first monarch of China, 8. 

Fuhshan (Fat-shan) captured by rebels, 
278, 279. 

Fung Yun-shan, an early follower of Hung 
Siu-tsuen, 234 ; made the ' Southern 
King,' 244; disappears, 250. 

GARNIER, Lieut. Fr., 391 ; in Tong- 
king, 394. 

Gaudar, Pere, 419. 

Gautier, Hippolyte, 396. 

Gensan (VVousan), in Korea, 444. 

Gerbillon, Pere, 47, 89. 

German, representative sent to China, 
1843, 213 ; neutrality and officers in 
1 883, 397, 400 ; Catholic missionaries, 
407, 408 ; in coalition to check Japan, 
461. 

Genghis Khan takes Peking, 410. 

God perhaps worshipped by Chingtang as 
Shangti, 20. 

Goes, Benedict, journey to Cathay, 72. 

Gordon, Charles George, commands the 
Ever- Victorious force, 257, 259 ; during 



INDEX. 



467 



the Tai-ping rebellion, 260-267 ; advice 
to Peking officials in case of war, 381. 

Gough, Sir Hugh, reaches China and as- 
sumes command, 169 ; invests Canton, 
170 ; at Ningpo, 177 ; force at Chapu, 
181; at Chinkiang, 189, 190; before 
Nanking, 193 ; rewarded, 204. 

Grand Canal, deepened by Kublai, 42 
Tai-pings control, 244 ; Gaudar on, 419 

Great Wall of China, built by Tsin, 20 : 
Mongol arch in, 42. 

Greece, China known as ®lv in, 56 : com- 
munication with China in dark ages, 60. 

Greig, Dr. J. A., outrage on, near Kirin, 
425. 

Griffis, W. E., 438. 

Gros, Baron, reaches China, 291 ; at fall 
of Canton, 294 ; reaches Tientsin, 299 ; 
leaves China, 309; reappointed envoy, 
319 ; signs treaty of Peking, 334 ; his 
ability, 336. 

Gros, Jules, 396. 

Grosier, Abbe, 367. 

Grosvenor, T. G., commissioner sent to 
Yunnan, 371. 

Gully, Robert, shipwrecked and murdered 
on Formosa, 202. 

Gundry, R. S., 399, 410, 414, 415, 418. 

Gutzlaff, Charles, 3, 46 ; at Chusan during 
war, 163 ; at Shanghai, 184 ; at Chin- 
kiang, 190 ; services unrecognized, 204. 

HAILING, General, at Chinkiang, his 
devotion, 188 ; posthumous honors 
to, 205. 

Hai-tien, near Peking, Allies at, 331 ; 
Dowager- Empress at, 412. 

Hai yang tau, naval battle of, 448. 

Hakkas and the Tai-pings, 230 ; quarrels 
with natives, 239. 

Hamburg, T., Life of Hung Siu-tsuen, 230. 

Han Dynasty, its historians, 25; its 
founder, 28 ; and Eastern Han, 30 ; the 
After Han, 38. 

Hangchau, capital of Chehkiang, Abu 
Zaid on, 63 ; retaken by imperialists, 
266 ; Romanist church confiscated, 335. 

Hankow, in Hupeh, during rebellion, 248, 
255. 

Hanoi, in Tongking, captured by Gamier, 
392 ; Riviere at, 396. 

Hart, Sir R., takes management of Chi- 
nese Customs service, 343 ; on Dowager- 
Empress, 398 ; arranges preliminaries of 
peace, 402. 

Hayton of Armenia visits Mangu khan, 
68. 

Heeren, A. H. L., 58-60. 

Hi, Empress-Dowager, Regent, 50, 339, 
358, 411 ; dismisses Prince Kung, 397 ; 
defends Vicerov Liu, 436 ; retires, 411 ; 
and Li, 412, 459. 

Hia Dynasty, founded, 14 ; early annals, 
18 ; its period, 24. 



Hia, a Tartar tribe, 39, 40. 

Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, 437. 

Hienfung, Emperor, 50 ; attitude toward 
foreigners, 223 ; his imbecility during 
Tai-pmg revolt, 252 ; ignorance during 
war with England, 290 ; signs Tientsin 
treaty, 304 ; escapes to Jeh-ho, 327 ; his 
death, 337. 

History and chronology in China, 2 ; pe- 
riod of fable, 3 ; of legend, 9 ; of the 
twenty-six dynasties, 14-53; work of 
Chinese, 61. 

Hobson, B. H. E., 46. 

Ho Kwei-tsing, viceroy of Kiangsu, cow- 
ardice, 253 ; receives letters of the allies, 
296 ; replies to Mr. Bruce, 320. 

Holland, T. E., 443. 

Homicides, foreign, at Canton, 99-103 ; of 
Lin at Hongkong, 153 ; of Sii A-mun at 
Canton, 216 ; of English near Canton, 
226. 

Honan landholders and the Yellow River, 
418. 

Hong merchants, monopoly established, 
95 ; relations with foreign traders, 98 ; 
placed between Governor Lu and Na- 
pier, 117, 121 ; and native shopkeepers, 
125 ; protest against opium smuggling, 
141, 142 ; a last effort to squeeze, 207. 

Hongkong, homicide at, 153; seized by 
the British, 205 ; smuggling at, 281 ; 
foreigners poisoned at, 288 ; British en- 
couragement to smuggling, 373 ; during 
Franco-Chinese hostilities, 401 ; smug- 
gling checked by convention, 406. 

Hoorn, Pieter van, Dutch ambassador, 
86. 

Hoppin, J. M., 287. 

Hovvqua, a Canton merchant, 207. 

Hue, Pere, E. R., 71, 356. 

Hue, in Annam, escapes capture, 391 ; a 
French Resident in, 395. 

Hunan province, inscription of Yu in, 15 ; 
hatred of foreigners in, 434. 

Hung Jin, brother of the Tien Wang, 
230; converted, 234, 235; at capture of 
Nanking, 268 ; subsequent efforts, 270. 

Hung Siu-tsuen, the Tien Wang or Tai- 
ping leader, 230 ; his vision, 231 ; belief 
in divine calling, 233 ; applies to Rob- 
erts, 236 ; begins military operations, 
238 ; opposes Triad Society, 239 ; pro- 
claimed Emperor at Nanking, 242 ; cli- 
max of his movement, 247 ; indomita- 
ble spirit, 253 ; death, 268 ; character of 
his ambitions, 271. 

Hungwu, Emperor, founds the Ming dy- 
nasty, 43. 

Huns, driven back by Tsin, 27 ; repeated 
inroads, 31 ; their kingdom of Wei, 321. 

Hunter, W. C, 208. 

Hwang ho. See Yellow River. 

Hwangti, an appellation of the Emperor, 
12, 362. 



468 



INDEX. 



Hwashan, Fuhkien, massacre at, 427. 
Hwashana, Commissioner, at Tientsin, 

299; at Shanghai, 305, 312; discussions 

with Ward at Peking, 317. 

I" BARBARIAN, 1 ' a term for foreign- 
, ers in China, 109. 

I, Prince, at Tungchau, 326, 327 ; prison- 
ers sent to, 328 ; his palace assigned to 
Elgin, 334 ; his conspiracy, 338 ; death, 
339. 

Ibn Batuta, travels in Cathay, 69. 

Ibn Wahab, Arab traveller, 62, 73. 

Ichang on the Yangtsz' reception of Brit- 
ish at, 192 ; riot, 425, 4b2. 

Ides, E. Ysbrandt, Russian envoy to Pe- 
king, 90. 

Ilipu, Commissioner, 165 ; banishment, 
177 ; thanks English, 182 ; associated 
with Kiying, 185 ; concludes treaty, 
195, 201 ; his death, 205. 

Isolation of the Chinese, causes and re- 
sults, 290, 296, 308. 

Ito Hirobumi, Count, 440. 

Ito Yuko, Admiral, 447 ; correspondence 
with Ting, 458. 

JAMES, H. E. M., 454. 
Japan, raid on Formosa, 364 ; interest 

of, in Port Hamilton, 409 ; relations 

with Korea, 437 ; convention of 1885, 

440; declares against with China, 443; 

European jealousy of, 461. 
Japanese, embassy at Seoul attacked, 439 ; 

savagery at Port Arthur, 453 ; policy in 

Manchuria, 455 ; humiliation by Europe, 

461. 
Jehangir, Kojeh of Kashgar, 50, 375, 377. 
Jeh-ho, or Chingtih, Hienfung retires to, 

330 ; palace conspiracy at, 338. 
Jesuit missionaries, disliked by Yung- 

ching, 91 ; mission at Wuhu wrecked, 

422. 

KAIFUNG (Pien-liang), capital of Ho- 
nan, stormed by Tai-pings, 245 ; sur- 
ly spirit in during famine, 384 ; Yellow 
River flood at, 417. 

Kanghi, Emperor, and Koxinga, 46 ; Por- 
tuguese embassy to, 77 ; Louis XIV. to, 
89 ; sends Tulishen to the Czar, 90 ; his 
prophecy quoted, 132. 

Kansuh, province, Mohammedan rebellion 
in, 378. 

Kara-korum Mountains, Carpini's visit to 
Kuyuk at, 64. 

Kashgar, government and town, 376 ; its 
reconquest, 379. 

Kautsu, or Lin Pang, founder of Han 
Dynasty, 28. 

Kautsung, Emperor of Tang Dynasty, 36. 

Kelung (orKilung), Formosa, taken by the 
French, 400, 403. 

Kiakhta, on Russian frontier, 91. 



| Kiaking, Emperor, 48. 
Kiayii kwan, on Great Wall, in Kansuh, 

11. 
Kieh Kwei, last Emperor of Hia Dynasty, 

Kienlung, Emperor, 47 ; Van Braam's em- 
bassy to, 87 ; and Mr. Flint, 97. 

Kim 6k-kinn, a Korean patriot, 440." 

Kin, or Niu-chih (Nu-chih). Tartars in 
Peking, 40 ; inscription in Kii-yung 
kwan, 42 ; overthrow the Mings, 44. 

Kingsmill, T. W., 25, 54. 

Kirin in Manchuria, outrage at, 425. 

Kishen, Viceroy of Chihli 164 ; apologizes, 
165 ; negotiates with Captain Elliot at 
the Bogue, 166 ; ordered to Peking, 169 ; 
associated with Yihking, 177. 

Kitan, or Liautung Tartars, harass the Af- 
ter Tsin, 38. 

Kiukiang, on the Yangtsz', captured by 
rebels, 243. 

Kiying, Commissioner, 78 ; associated 
with Ilipu, 185 ; writes to Pottmger, 
194 ; signs Nanking treaty, 197 ; ex- 
changes ratifications, 205 ; his procla- 
mation, 206; includes all foreigners, 
209 ; and other foreign representatives, 
213 ; meets Minister Cashing, 214 ; on 
homicide case, 216 ; treaty with France, 
219 ; on opium question, 225 ; on murder 
of Englishman, 226 ; disbands braves 
about Canton, 228 ; appears unexpected- 
ly at Tientsin, 301 ; his fate, 302. 

Klaproth, J., 13, 26, 28, 59, 69, 90. 

Kolao hwui, a secret society, .433. 

Korea, conquered by the Tang, 35 ; Port 
Hamilton restored to, 409 ; relations 
with China and Japan,437-439 ; invaded, 
442 ; cleared of Chinese, 446 ; declared 
autonomous, 460. 

Kowlung, opposite Hongkong. 154 ; ceded 
to the British, 206, 334 ; customs house 
located at, 407. 

Kowfihiug sunk off Asan, 443. 

Koxinga takes Formosa, 46, 83. 

Kublai khan, 41 ; receives the Polos, 68. 

Kuche, in Hi, 378. 

Kuchang (or Kutien) massacre, 427. 

Kuldja (Gouldja, Kulja, Kuren or Hwui- 
yuen ching) and Russia, 375, 378 ; nego- 
tiations respecting, 379-382. 

Kung, Sixth Prince {Kung Uin-wanq), 
appointed regent, 50 ; rewards Colonel 
Gordon, 264; negotiates with Elgin at 
Peking, 330; signs treaty, 334; his coup 
d'etat, 339 ; refuses to ratify Lay's 
agreement, 342 ; and coolie trade, 346 ; 
and Tientsin riot, 350; and audience 
question, 360, 363 ; his son in the suc- 
cession, 374, 387 ; dismissed by Empress- 
Dowager, 397 ; and education, 415 ; and 
extension of foreign residence, 430. 

Kuyuk khan, Piano Carpini's visit to, 63. 

Kii-yung kwan, gateway at, 42. 



INDEX. 



Kwangsii province and Tai-ping rebellion, 
238-243. 

Kwangsii, Emperor, 51, 52 ; his accession, 
374 ; marriage and reign, 410. 

Kwangtung province, resists Manchu con- 
quest, 45 ; rebels in, 252, 278 ; anti-for- 
eign riots in, 420. 

Kweiliang, Commissioner, 299; sent to 
Shanghai, 305 ; refuses to accompany 
allies to Taku, 312; discusses audience 
question with Minister Ward, 317 ; sent 
to intercept Elgin at Tientsin, 325 ; sup- j 
ports Prince Kung, 339. 

Kweilin, capital of Kwangsi, attacked by 
Tai-pings, 243. 

L AGREE, Captain Doudart de, 39L 
Lagrene, French envoy to China, 
89 ; concludes treaty at Whampoa, 219. 

Lang, Captain, 405. 

Lange, Laurent, in Peking, 90. 

Langson, in Tongking, French repulse at, 
399 ; evacuated, 401 ; mentioned, 403, 
404. 

Laokai, on Yunnan frontier, 404. 

Lavallee, C, 295, 302, 332, 383. 

Lay, H. N., appointed intendent of cus- 
toms, 276 ; his flotilla, 310. 

Lay, W. T., 269. 

Le Gendre, C. W., 365. 

Legge, J., 9, 10, 13. 

Lew Chew Islands and China's suzerainty, 
393. 

Li Hung-chang, 259 ; executes surrendered j 
Tai-pings, 2(13, 264 ; dissolves the Ever- 
Victorious force, 266 ; and Wade in j 
Chifu convention, 372 ; denounces treaty 
of Livadia, 380 ; during the famine, 
383 ; and the Fournier convention, 398 ; 
concludes a treaty with Patenotre, 402; 
and the military improvements, 405 ; 
punished, 411, 459; and railroads, 416; 
419 ; concludes treaties with Japan, 
440, 460. 

Liang Dynasty, 32 ; After Liang, 37. 

Liang A-fah's tracts reach Hung Siu- 
tsuen, 230, 237. 

Liau, Tartar tribe, 39, 40. 

Liau tung Promontory, 459, 454 ; retroces- 
sion of, 460. 

Li-kin, tax on opium compromised, 406, 
419. 

Lin Tseh-sii, Commissioner, 50; reaches 
Canton, 145 ; demands surrender of 
opium, 146 ; proceedings at Canton, 146- 
164 ; memorial to Emperor, 166 ; re- 
called from banishment, 177; his death, 
238. 

Lintin, opium smugglers at, 127; and 
Captain Elliot, 139. 

Literati, or literary aristocracy of China, 
persecuted by Tsin, 28; prejudiced 
against Western learning, 415 ; cause of 
anti- foreign outrages, 419, 429. 



Liu Ming-chuan, 419. 

Liu Ping-chang, Viceroy, punished, 436. 

Ljungstedt, Sir A, History of Macao, 78. 

Loch. Captain G. G., 1»4, 189, 191, 195, 
198. 

Loch, Henry, at Tungchau, 326; im- 
prisoned at Peking, 3:^8, 329 ; returned 
to the English, 332, 333. 

Lohyang, ancient capital, 25, 28, 30, 34, 
40, 59. 

Low, F. F., United States Minister, 348 ; 
on sentiment toward foreigners at Tien- 
tsin, 352; reply to Wansiang, 356 ; on the 
audience question, 361, 362; thanked by 
Prince Kung, 387. 

Lu, Governor of Kwangtung, 112 ; rejects 
Napier's letter, 115 ; stops the trade, 
119, 120; is superceded, 129. 

Lungchow, Kwangsi, opened to trade, 
404. 

MACAO, Governor of Canton, escapes 
from pirates to, 49 ; origin of name 
and settlement, 76 ; recent history, 78 ; 
Dutch repulsed before, 81 ; British war- 
ship at, 96; troops occupy, 104; Lord 
Napier reaches, 112 ; retires to, 154 ; 
Lin's soldiers repulsed at, 164 ; Kiying 
goes to, 215 ; becomes a hive of smugglers, 
282, 407; and of Coolie traders, 310; 
coolie iniquity stopped, 363 ; ceded to 
Portugal and smuggling checked, 407. 

Macartney, Lord, embassy to Peking, 102. 

McCarthy, Justin, 213 ; on " Arrow War," 
282, 285, 335. 

McClatchie, Canon T., 8. 

McGifSn, Captain P. N, 447, 449. 

Mackie, J. Milton, 250, 272. 

Magailians (Magalhaens), Pere Gabriel, 
his embassy, 77. 

Mahan, Captain A. T., 446, 449. 

Mailla, J. A. M. de M., 3, 18, 61. 

Maimai chin, frontier trading post, 91. 

Manchu Dynasty, dreads invasion, 290 ; 
pride in Mukden, 455. 

Manchuria, railroads in, 416 ; anti-foreign 
outrage in, 427; Chinese troops in, 444, 
454. 

Manchus, spring from the Kins, 40 ; over- 
throw the Mings; 44 ; their government 
better than their predecessors, 51 ; close 
China to foreign trade, 74 ; terrible de- 
struction of, at Chinkiang, 190; as 
rulers of China, 228 ; Chinese dislike of 
and Tai-ping revolt, 244. 

Manghao, in Yunnan, 403. 

Mangtsz', in Yunnan, treaty town, 403. 

Mangu khan, Kuyuk's successor, and Ru- 
bruquis, 66 ; visited by King Hayton, 
68. 

Marco Polo. See Polo. 

Margary, A. R., sent from Hankow to 
Bhamo, 369 ; his murder, 370 ; investi- 
gated, 371, 372. 



470 



INDEX. 



Martin, R. M., 54, 91, 210; proposition as 
to Chusan, 228. 

Martin, W. A. P., 389, 414; on Tientsin 
riot, 435. 

Meadows, T. T., 244, 245, 272. 

Medhurst, W. H, 17; Tai-ping transla- ] 
tions, 242, 272. 

Mekong River, explored, 391. 

Miaotsz', Hung Siu-tsuen among the, 235. | 

Michie, Alex., 435. 

Ming Dynasty. 43-45 ; table of emperors, j 
52. 

Mingti, Emperor, 29. 

Missionaries, in Kanghi's reign, 47 ; in- i 
formation derived from French, 88 ; ■ 
French beheaded in Kwangsi, 290 ; Brit- 
ish, address Lord Elgin, 297 ; influence 
in Peking, 337 ; French, killed in Tien- 
tsin, 348;' American, leave Tangchau, 
353 ; Chinese grievances against, 357 ;) 
devotion during the great famine, 384 ; \ 
Roman Catholic, and French protection, 
407 ; chief sufferers from anti-foreign , 
outbreaks, 420 ; residing in the interior, 
430. 

Missions, Russian, established at Peking, ! 
91 ; rules suggested for regulating Chris- ; 
tian, in China, 355 ; destroyed during ' 
riots, 348, 420-430. 

Mobs, attack British troops before Canton, 
171 ; attack factories, 143, 204, 206 ; at 
Wusueh, 424. 

Mohammedan, insurrection in Kansuh, 
357 ; in Yunnan, 367 ; in Eastern Tur- 
kestan, 375-379 ; refugees from Yunnan 
in Tongking, 393. 

Mohammedans found in China bv Ibn 
Batuta, 70 ; general uprising of, 378. 

Mongols, their dynasty, the Yuen, 41. 43 ; 
their conquests in Europe, 63 ; Chris- 
tian converts persecuted, 426. 

Montecorvino, John of, in Cathay, 69; 
found by Oderic in Peking, 71. 

Morrison, J. R., 168; his services, 195, | 
196, 204 ; his death, 208. 

Morrison, Dr. Robert, 101, 106, 107. 

Mukden, capital of Shingking, 455. 

Murray, Hugh, 3, 18, 54, 58. 

Myths, Chinese cosmic, 4-9. 

NANKING, a feudal capital, 30 ; pil- 1 
laged by the Kin, 41 ; capital of the ; 
Ming Dynasty, 43 ; the British before, 
193 ; treaty of, 197; capital of the Tai- 
pings, 232 ; rebel capture of, 244 ; their 
distress in, 253 ; its fall, 268. 

Napier, Lord, superintendent of British 
trade, 112 ; letter to Governor Lu re- 
jected, 115 ; contest with the Governor, 
119 ; death, 122. 

Navy, Chinese, Lay's flotilla fiasco, 340 ; 
developed in 1865, 405 ; paralyzed at : 
Hai yang tau, 449 ; remnant at Wei hai ; 
wei, 455 ; surrendered there, 458. 



Nestorian, missionaries at Taitsung'a 
court, 35 ; with traders. 59 ; priest and 
Rubruquis, 6tf. 

Nganking (Anking), in Nganhwui, capt- 
ured Dy Tai-pings, 243 ; their march to 
relieve, 255 ; taken by imperialists, 256. 

Ningpo, Portuguese at, 76 ; captured by 
British, 175 ; attempted recapture, 179 ; 
during Tai-ping revolt, 25fi, 257. 

Nieuwhof (Nieuhoff), J., 76 ; account of 
fall of Fort Zelandia, 84. 

Niu Kien, Viceroy, at Wusung, 183, 185 ; 
and ransom of Nanking, 192 ; joint let- 
ter to Pottinger, 194. 

Niu-chih (Nu-chih) or Kin Tartars, 40. 

Niuchwang (Yingtsz'), 455; captured by 
Japanese, 459. 

Nodzu, General, 444, 445. 

Norman, C. B.,394, 395. 

Norman, Henry, 396, 435. 

O DORIC, Friar, journeys to Cathay, 
70. 

Officers in China, their methods, 205 ; and 
foreigners at close of the Opium War, 
223 ; sent to Europe to study, 41 5 ; en- 
ergy in repairing Yellow River dykes, 
418 ; suicides after Wei hai wei, 458. 

Oliphant, Lawrence, 292, 295, 302, 308. 

Opium, smuggling under Taukwang, 50 ; 
value of trade, 78 ; Robinson's paper on, 
smuggling, 127 ; proposal to legalize, 
130; referred to Canton, 134; prohibi- 
tion enforced, 138 ; smuggling increases. 
140 ; demanded by Lin, 146 ; surren- 
dered, 150 ; and destroyed, 152 ; sales 
recommence, 154 ; Pottinger as to, 1 86 ; 
discusses, with commissioners, 198 ; 
smuggling at Hongkong, 206, 407 ; pol- 
icv of Chinese and English after 1842, 
209, 225 ; increased smuggling of, 281 ; 
legalized in revised tariff, 305 ; trade 
with Tongking, 403 ; likin on com- 
pounded and cultivation of legalized, 
406. 

Order of the Double Dragon, 404. 

Osbeck, Peter, voyage to China, 109. 

Oshima, General, 444. 445. 

Ouchterlony, J., 199, 222. 

Oyama, Marshal, 450, 453, 457. 

PAI-LAU erected to commemorate 
British retirement from Canton, 274. 

Panthay insurrection in Yunnan, 367. 

Paper money, during Yuen Dynasty, 43 ; 
mentioned by Ibn Batuta, 70. 

Parker, E. H, 438. 

Parker, Dr. Peter, 215, 287. 

Parker, Sir W., British Admiral, arrives, 
172. 

Parkes, Sir Harry, McCarthy's estimate 
of, 282; inArrow affair, 283-285 ; in tem- 
porary government of Canton, 294 ; his 
ability, 295 ; at Tungchau, 326 ; capture 



INDEX. 



471 



and imprisonment, 828 ; on " neutral- 
izing Shanghai, 1 ' 401. 

Pascal, Spanish friar, at Kuldja, 72. 

Pauthier, G., 61, 67, 351. 

Pearl River (Chu kiang, or West River), 
Kwangtung. pirates on, 49 ; kept open by 
foreigners, 278 ; blocked below Canton, 
401 ; navigation of withdrawn from 
Shimonoseki treaty, 460. 

Pehtang, in Chihli, 313 ; Americans land 
at, 316; Ho desires ratifications ex- 
changed at, 320; captured by Allies, 
321. 

Pei ho, Allies reach, 297 ; battle of the, 
314. 

Peking, captured by the Mongols, 41 ; by 
the Mings. 43, 44; Friar Odoric visits, 
71 ; Van Hoorn s embassy at, 86 ; Rus- 
sian mission at, 91 ; Tai-ping advance 
against, 245 ; Minister Ward's visits to, 
317 ; Allies at, 330, 334 ; foreign quarter 
in, 336 ; removal of Catholic cathedral 
in, 408. 

Penal Code framed by Tungloh, 43. 

Pescadore Islands (Panghu), Dutch in, 
81 ; French capture, 400 ; and evacuate, 
403 ; Japanese seize, 459 ; and retain, 
460. 

Pichon, Dr. L., 404. 

Pigeon-English, 274. 

Pihkwei, made Governor of Canton, 294 ; 
wants trade reopened, 295. 

Pilgrims, travels of Buddhist, 61. 

Ping yang (or Phyong vang), battle of, 
445. 

Pirates, infest Kwangtung, 49 ; chased by 
British and Portuguese, 280 ; in Tong- 
king. 393. 

Piano Carpini, John of, visits Kuyuk. 65. 

Polo, Marco, 42, 63 ; journeys in China, 
68, 73. 

Poole, S. Lane, 397. 

Pope of Rome, sends Piano Carpini to 
Kuyuk, 63 ; declines to establish a le- 
gation in China, 408. 

Population, of China under the Tang, 37 ; 
of Peking, 335. 

Port Arthur, or Lii shun kan, 400, 405, 
449 ; captured, 450-453. 

Port Hamilton seized, 409. 

Port Lazaref , Korea, 409. 

Portuguese, under the Mings, 43 ; and 
pirates in China, 49 ; their conduct in 
China, 74 ; misrepresent the English, 
92 ; keep them from Canton, 94 ; homi- 
cide at Canton, 99 ; attack pirates, 280 ; 
smuggling lorchas, 282 ; abolish coolie 
trade at Macao, 311 ; Macao ceded to, 
407. 

Pottinger, Sir H. , 172 ; takes Chinhai and 
.Ningpo, 175 ; proclamation before Chin- 
kiang, 185 ; and the opium trade, 187 ; 
Kiying writes to, 194 ; exchanges civili- 
ties, 195 ; discusses the opium problem. 



198 ; signs treaty, 201 ; after Formosa 
massacres, 203 ; exchanges ratifications, 
205 ; on J. R. Morrison, 209 ; and opium 
smuggling, 210. 
Poutiatine, Admiral Count, 291. 

j Protestants in China. See Missionaries. 

| Ptolemy the geographer, mentions China, 
56 ; his "Stone Tower," 57. 

i Pwanku, the first man, 4-7. 

RAILROADS in China, 403, 404, 416 ; 
French in Tongking, 404. 
Reed, W. B., U. S. Minister, 291, 297. 
Reid, Gilbert, 435. 
Reinaud, J. T., 34, 62, 73, 74. 
Remusat, Abel, 5, 33, 42, 89. 
'Rennie, Dr. D. F., 340. 
! Ricci, Pere Matteo, 73. 
j Richthofen, F. von, 55, 59, 272. 
| Riviere, Henri, 396. 
Roberts, I. J., and Hung Siu-tsuen, 235, 

271. 
Robinson, Sir G. B., and Napier, 112; 

succeeds him, 127. 
Rome, Chinese knowledge of, under the 

Hans, 29 ; intercourse with, 58. 
Roman Catholics, indemnified in treaty of 
Peking, 335 ; mission in Tientsin de- 
stroyed, 348 ; and French protection, 
407 ; attacked at Wuhu, 422 ; pretensions 
of, 433. 
Ross, John, 435. 
Rubruquis, Friar W., visits Mangu khan, 

66, 73. 
i Russia, seizes Kuldja, 375 ; in the Port 
Hamilton incident, 409-410 ; appealed to 
by China in 1894, 442 ; interferes to 
check Japan, 461. 
Russian, boundary disputes, trade, and 
treaties with China, 89 ; Admiral joins 
Allies in China, 291 ; and American 
Ministers in Tientsin, 302 ; diplomacy 
and the Kuldja question, 380 ; railroad 
across Manchuria, 416. 

SASTGKOLLNSrN, Tartar general, 312, 
314 ; blunders before Taku, 322 ; re- 
tires toward Peking, 325 ; deception, 
327 ; talks with Parkes, 328 ; responsi- 
bility for treatment of English prisoners, 
333 ; allows the return of allied troops. 
336. 

Scott, J. G, 399. 

Secret societies, in Hwashan massacre, 
428 ; instigate anti-foreign fanaticism, 
433. 

Seoul, capital of Korea, 438, 440 ; politics 
at, 441 : Japanese gain, 444. 

Seres, Latin designation distinguished 
from Sivce, 56. 

Sevmour, Admiral, 285 ; in South China, 
286-288 ; takes Taku forts, 299. 

Shang Dynasty, its annals, 20-24. 

Shanghai, taken and ransomed by British, 



472 



INDEX. 



284 ; at close of opium war, 221 ; capt- 
ured by rebels, 252 ; protected by for- 
eigners, 254 ; thanks Gordon, 267 ; cus- 
toms duties at, collected by foreigners, 
275 ; trouble with Cantonese rebels, 
276 ; arsenal established at, 344 ; trade 
at, prostrated by Franco-Chinese hos- 
tilities, 401. 

Shangti, perhaps worshipped as God, 20, 
233 ; worship of, by the Tai-pings, 236, 
244. 

Shan-hai, kwan, railroad to, 416. 

Shauking, in Kwangtung, Ricci at, 79 ; 
rebel slaughter at, 280. 

Shaw, R. B., 377. 

Shaw, Samuel, voyage to China, 108. 

Shensi province, the Huns in, 31. 

S.'iimonoseki, treaty of, 460. 

ti/ni King* or "Book of Records," on 
Deluge of Yao, 13 ; its credibility, 18, 
21 ; and Houte of Chau, 23, 25; and 
Shangti, 244. 

Shun, Emperor, 11, 12, 14. 

Shunchi, Emperor, 89. 

Si-ngan (Hao-king, Chang-an), ancient \ 
capital, 18, 24, 34, 37 ; under the Tang i 
Dynasty, 340. 

Smuggling, at Hongkong, 281, 406 ; Brit- 
ish encouragement of, 373 ; convention 
of lS87to check, 407. 

Songari River, in treaty of Livadia, 3S0. 

Song-koi, or Red River, in Tongking, 391, 
395 ; as a trade route, 404. 

Sontai, in Tongking, 397. 

Spanish trade and relations with China, 
79 ; Don S. de Mas, Minister, 213 ; gov- \ 
erament and the coolie trade, 363. 

Staunton, Sir G. L., 92, 102. 

Staunton, Sir G. T., 100, 106, 108. 

Stewart, Rev. R. W., murdered, 428. 

Sii Kwang-tsin, Viceroy, keeps foreigners 
out of Canton, 221 ; his folly, 238, 252. j 

Suchau, in Kiangsu, captured by Tai- I 
pings, 254 ; recaptured, 261. 

Sushun, favorite of Hienf ung, 252 ; bis j 
conspiracy and fate, 339. 

Sui Dynasty, 33. 

Sang Dynasty, Northern, 32 ; period of I 
Sung, 39 ; Southern, 40. 

Sungkiang, captured by Ward, 255 ; Gor- 
don at, 2(>0. 

Sungpu, riot at, 426. 

Suzerainty, China's claims over Annam, 
393, 395, 398. 403 ; over Burma recog- 
nized, 409 ; over Korea, 437, 438. 

Swedish missionaries killed, 426. 

Swinhoe, Robert, 319, 321, 325, 331, 332, 
333. 

Sz'chuen province, under Tang generals, 
39 ; missionary troubles in, 420, 427 ; 
Viceroy of, punished, 436. 

Sz'ma Kwang, a historian, 40. 

Sz'ma Tsien, a historian, 12, 15. 



TAI-PING, 50; origin of term, 229; 
insurrection, 237-270; authorities on 
the movement, 272 ; rebels visited by 
Elgin, 307. 

Taitsung, Emperor, 34-36. 

Tai Wen Kun, Regent of Korea, 440. 

Taku, on the Pei ho, Elliot and Kishen at, 
163; allied fleet at, 297; Russians and 
Americans interview Tan at, 298; forts 
taken, 299 ; foreign Ministers repair to, 
312 ; Americans negotiate at, 313 ; re- 
pulse of British at, ol4 ; second capture 
of, 324 ; Chinese bravery at, and at Port 
Arthur, 452. 

Talien Bay, 448; captured by Japanese, 
451, 456. 

Tang Dynasty, 33-37 ; After Tang, 38 ; 
official history, 61 ; travelling regula- 
tions under, 73. 

Tang Ting-ching, governor at Canton, 
129 ; his son in opium trade, 141 ; posi- 
tion toward foreigners, 143 ; answer to 
Captain Elliot, 144 ; visits Macao, 154. 

Tangchau, missionaries leave, 353 ; Japan- 
ese before, 456. 

Tan Ting-siang, Viceroy of Chihli, at 
Taku, 298 ; superseded by Kweiliang, 
299. 

Tanyang, riot at, 424. 

Tariff, after Opium War, 206 ; after sec- 
ond war, 305 ; Franco -Chinese on Tong- 
king border, 463, 464. 

Tarim (or Ergu) River, reconquest of val- 
ley, 375. 

Tatnall, Commodore Josiah, at Taku, 313, 
316. 

Taukwang, Emperor, 49; efforts to stop 
opium trade, 140, 145 ; rejects Bogue 
treaty, 167 ; his spirit in pushing the 
war, 175; proclamation on its causes, 
187 ; his death, 223. 

Tea, dutv on in 1689, 94. 

Telegraphs in China, 389, 400. 

Tennent, Sir T. E, 61. 

Terranova, an American sailor, 101 ; his 
judicial murder, 108. 

Thorn, R, interpreter to Pottinger, 196, 
204, 205. 

Tientsin, Flint at, 87; Tai-pings. repulsed 
at, 246 ; Allies reach, 299 ; negotiations 
at, 302; allied armies return to, 325; 
riot at, 348 ; feeling in the city, 351 ; 
railroads built from, 416 ; foreign policy 
after riot ineffective, 435. 

Timur (Ching-tsung), Kublai's successor, 
42. 

Ting Ju-chang, Admiral, 447, 455, 457 ; 
his suicide, 459. 

Tinghai. Chusan Archipelago, first capt- 
ure, 162; second, 173. 

Ting ?/?ce?i, battleship, 448 ; sunk, 457. 

Timkowski, E. F., 90, 91. 

Tong Jiak, or "Eastern Doctrine" rebel- 
lion in Korea, 439, 441. 



INDEX. 



473 



Tongking, occupied by Gamier, 392, 395 ; 
conquered by French, 397 ; guerilla war 
in, 599, 49U. 

Tourgouths, Tulishen's mission respecting 
the, 90. 

Tourane, in Annam, 391. 

Trade, ancient with Roman Empire, 59, 
G:J ; restricted by Manchus to Canton, 
74 ; Portuguese, 78 ; Spanish, 79 ; 
Dutch, 81 ; Russian, 89 ; English, 91- 
107 ; peculiarities of early Chinese, 98 ; 
American, 108; Napier, superintendent 
of British, 112 ; during his control, 121- 
125 ; Lin stops the British, 155 ; during 
the opium war, 105, 169, 172 ; regulations 
after the war, 205; with Tongking 
under treaty, 403, 404; Hongkong junk, 
and customs agreement, 406. 

Travel, ancient and mediaeval, to China, 
60-74 ; regulated under the Tangs, 73. 

Treat}', Russian, 89 ; failure of negotia- 
tions at Bogue, 166; of Nanking, 197; 
ratified, 207 ; British supplementary 
signed at Bogue, 209 ; of Wanghai be- 

- tween China and the United States, 215 ; 
French, at Whampoa, 219; bow re- 
garded by Chinese, 226 ; of Tientsin 
signed, 304 ; difficulty of enforcing, 306 ; 
American, ratified at Pehtang, 318 ; 
English and French signed at Peking, 
334 ; the Burlingame, 346 ; of 1880, 347 ; 
of Livadia, 380 ; of Marquis Tsang set- 
tling the Kuldja question, 382 ; of 1874 
between Annam and France, 395 ; 
China's refusal to recognize it, 397 ; the 
Fournier, 398; concluding Franco- 
Chinese hostilities, 402 ; between China 
and Portugal, 407; proposed revision of 
Tientsin, 430; American, with Korea, 
438 ; concluded by Li and Ito respecting 
Korea, 440 ; of Shimonoseki, 460. 

Triad Society opposed by Hung Siu- 
tsuen, 239. 

Trigautius (Trigault), French missionary, 
73, 76. 

Tsang Kwoh-fan, generalissimo against 
Tai-pings, 266 ; visited by Gordon ; 268 ; 
investigates Tientsin riot, 351 ; his son 
sent to Europe, 381 ; collected works 
published, 405 ; founds a loyalist society, 
434. 

Tsang Chi-tsz'. Marquis, 381 ; withdraws 
' from Paris, 397 ; arranges opium agree- 
ment of 1885 with Lord Salisbury, 406. 

Tsi Dvnasty, 32. 

Tsin Dynasty, 29, 31 ; after Tsin, 38. 

Tsin, name China perhaps derived from, 
27 ; Ta-tsiit, ancient term for Rome, 58. 

Tsin ChiHwangti, ll Emperor First," 26; 
subjugates Annam, 392. 

Tsing Dynasty, 45-52. 

Tsiuenchau (Chinchew), the ancient Zay- 
ton, 19. 

Tso Tsung-tang, campaign against Mo- 



hammedan rebels, 357 ; successful, 378 ; 
leader of the war faction, 380 ; his dying 
memorial favors progress, 405. 

Tsung-li Y amun, 342 ; parties in the, 347 ; 
accused of complicity in Tientsin riot, 
354 ; discusses audience, 360 ; and Lew- 
chewan envoys, 366 ; and Sir T. Wade, 
374 ; entertains foreign ministers, 412 ; 
anti-foreign member, 42U ; and foreign 
residence m the interior, 430. 

Tsz'ki, near Ningpo, visited by British, 
178; camp near, 179; Ward's death at, 
257 ; taken from the Tai-pings, 258. 

Tu Due, King of Annam, 305. 

Tungchau, Ward's embassy at, 317 ; 
Parke's experiences in, 326-329. 

Tungchi, Emperor, 50 ; palace intrigue 
upon accession of, 339; his marriage, 
358 ; audience to foreign ministers, 362 ; 
his death, and the succession, 374. 

Tung-wan Kwan, Imperial College at 
Peking, 344, 389, 415. 

Turkestan, Chinese, Tien-shan Nan Lu, 
374. 



UNITED STATES of America, begins 
a trade with China, 108 ; first minis- 
ter sent, 213 ; treaty of Wanghia, 215 ; 
joins the Allies in' Second War, 291 ; 
Minister Ward at Peking, 317 ; con- 
cludes Buriingame treaty, 346 ; and in- 
demnity surplus, 384 ; Chinese sent to, 
for education, 387 ; forces Korea to 
make a treaty, 438. [See also under 
American. ] 



T7EGETARIAN Society (Tsai hivui), 

V in Fuhkien, 428. 
Villiers, Frederic, 454. 
Vlangali, Russian Minister to Peking, 

347 ; action at trial of Tientsin rioters, 

353. 



WADE, Sir T. F., 272 ; intendant of 
customs at Shanghai, 274 ; experi- 
ences at Tungchau, 326 ; good offices be- 
tween Japan and China. 365 ; action 
upon Margary's murder, 372 ; his min- 
ute on the Chifu Convention, 373. 

Walrond, T., 285, 303. 308, 310. 

Wanghia. treaty of between the U. S. and 
China, 21 5 ; taken as basis for subse- 
quent French treaty, 219. 

Wansiang, Minister of the Tsung-li Ya- 
mun, 347 ; letter to foreign Ministers, 
355 ; Minister Low's reply, 356 ; and the 
koivtow, 362 ; character and influence, 
363. 

War, with Great Britain, the Opium, 111 ; 
England's reasons for declaring, 158 ; de- 
bate upon, 160 ; its progress, 162-19S ; a 
wholesome infliction, 220 ; authorities 



474 



INDEX. 



upon, 222 ; the Tai-ping Rebellion, 213- 
2.2 ; Second English, 283-307 ; renewed 
by repulse at Taku, 31 4 ; the Allies re- 
commence, 321 ; and conclude. 330 ; au- 
thorities on, 332 ; objects attained, 335, 
336 ; with France over Annam, not de- 
clared, 397; its progress and conclusion, 
398-404 ; with Japan, averted, 365, 440 ; 
declared, 443 ; its course, 443-459. 

Ward, Fred'k. G., organizes the " Ever- 
Victorious Force," 255; his death at 
Tsz'ki, 257. 

Ward, Minister J. E. , 308 ; and coolie 
trade, 3L1 ; with Allies at Taku, 312; in- 
terviews Chinese, 313 ; goes to Peking, 
316 ; refuses to kotow and returns, 318. 

Wei hai wei, Shantung, 450 ; Japanese at- 
tack, 455 ; capture, 457. 

Westlake, J., 443. 

Whampoa, on Canton River, homicide at, 
101 ; Franco-Chinese treaty of, 219. 

Wiju, on the Yalu River, 446. 

Williamson, Alexander, 454. 

Wilson, Andrew, 250, 258, 259, 264, 265, 
343. 

Wilson, General J. H., 418. 

Wolseley, Garnet, 320, 323 ; on coolies, 
322 ; his narrative, 333. 

Wu Tsih-tien, Empress Wu of the Tang 
Dynasty, 36. 

Wuchang, in Hupeh, captured by Tai- 
pings, 243. 

Wuhu, riot at, 421. 

Wusueh, riot at, 424. 

Wusung, near Shanghai, captured by the 
British, 182. 

Wylie, Alexander, 42. 

Wylie, J. A., murder of, 427, 437. 

YAKUB BEG, Atalik Ghazi, of Tur- 
kestan, 375 ; defeat and death, 378. 

Yalu River, Amnok gang, 444, 454 ; so- 
called Battle of the, 448. 

Yamagata, Marshal, in Korea, 444, 454. 

Yang and Ym, the two principles in cre- 
ation, 3, 7. 

Yangi Hissar, Kashgar, 376. 

Yangtsz', or Ta kiang, British fleet upon, 
182 ; ravages of Tai- pings in valley of, 
251 ; their control of, 254 ; ports on, 
opened to foreign trade, 373, 425 ; anti- 



foreign feeling in, valley, 434; ports 
opened by Japanese treaty of 1895, 460. 

Yao the Great, his place in history, 10 ; 
and the deluge, 13. 

Yarkand, or Yerkiang, 376; its recon- 
quest, 379. 

Yeh Ming-chin, Commissioner and Gov- 
ernor General, 252, 278 ; his policy of 
seclusion, 281, 282; action in Arrow 
case, 284-286 ; burns the foreign facto- 
ries in Canton, 287 ; refuses British ulti- 
matum, ^91 ; captured, 292 ; sent to In- 
dia, 295. 

Yeh-ho-na-la, consort of Kwangsii, 411. 

Yellow River (Hwang ho), early migra- 
tion to, 10 ; ancient record of its over- 
flow, 13 ; terrible inundation of 1887,417. 

Yihking, the "majesty-bearing generalis- 
simo," 177 ; his terror and flight to Su- 
chau, 179. 

Yihshau, nephew of Taukwang, general of 
Canton forces. 169 ; his defensive meas- 
ures there, 275, 302. 

Yingtsz' or Yingkow, Niuchwang port, 
455, 459. 

Younghusband, F. E., 454. 

Yu the Great, Emperor, drains the flood, 
13, 14; inscription of, 15; his acts and 
successors, 19. 

Yuen, or Mongol Dynasty, 41-43. 

Yuen-ming Yuen, palace, destroyed by 
Allies, 330. 

Yukien, Commissioner, despair and suicide 
at fall of Chinhai, 174. 

Yule, Sir H., 34, 42, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 
63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 89. 

Yung Wing, and Chinese education com- 
mission, 387, 38S. 

Yungching, Emperor, 47 ; receives Ma- 
gaillans, 76; and Russian mission, 91. 

Yungching, Shantung Promontory, 456. 

Yungloh, Emperor, 43 ; expedition against 
Ceylon, 62. 

Yunnan province, Sladen's expedition to, 
367; the Grosvenor mission to, 371; 
Black Flags come from, 393 ; trade with 
Tongking after French treaty, 404; 
ruin in, 405. 

ZAYTON (Chinchew) visited by Friar 
Odoric, 70, 76. 



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affairs."— New York Nation. 



For sale by all booksellers, or sent post-paid, upon receipt of price, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

J53-J57 Fifth Avenue, .... New York 










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